


Wanting

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-17
Updated: 2007-05-01
Packaged: 2019-01-19 12:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 90,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12410046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Lily Evans was the perfect girl. All the boys wanted her and the girls wanted to be her. She always loved being different and it always turned out for the good. But will being different stop Lily from having what she really wants? [1stFic. Read&Review XD]





	1. Tiring Patrols

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**Chapter 1: Tiring Patrols**

_She was the envy of most girls in_ _Hogwarts_ _School_ _of Witchcraft and Wizardry because of her stunning beauty, her brains, and also the fact that she held the attention of one messy haired, bespectacled boy. She was the kindest girl anyone had ever met; she helped anyone who needed help with homework and listened to anyone’s problems no matter how simple they might have been. It was definitely difficult to hate her. Along with the loving personality, she had a horrible temper that, when released, could cause the manliest boy want to cry out for his mother. But, one boy just would not cower when she got mad; he thought that she was even more beautiful with her cheeks flushed._

_He was one of the handsomest boys in Hogwarts. It just so happens that this good-looking boy was interested in the best-looking girl. Perfect, right? WRONG. This boy was kind at heart and had good intensions, he really did, he just didn’t show them when he was around a certain girl. Around her, he was a cocky, arrogant, pompous boy. His thoughts were plagued by the girl that everyone loved, and seemed to think about her a little bit more than necessary. Finally, he gathered his courage and asked her out for the very first time. The girl declined because she claimed she could not stand his arrogant attitude. That may be true, but that was only HALF the story._

Lily was walking through one of the familiar hallways of Hogwarts. The light from the full moon shone brightly as she walked to the window. The light reflecting off her Prefect badge rested on her robes. She gazed at the moon a little while longer before continuing on her nightly patrols as prefect. Her partner Remus Lupin was not able to attend due to pressing issues. Lily, of course, knew all about Remus Lupin’s condition. He was a werewolf. She knew how every full moon, he could not patrol with her as he was transforming into a beast. The Remus Lupin that everyone knew and loved was lost for a night. Being the understanding person she was, Lily did not think any less of Remus than she has thought about him before. Due to Prefect duties, Lily and Remus had become good friends. But, what Lily didn’t understand, was how Remus, the intelligent person that he was, was friends with such people like James Potter and Sirius Black. They were so different. Remus was a shy, kind, polite boy while Potter and Black were arrogant, stuck-up, proud and acted as though they owned the school. _Oh well,_ she thought, _everyone has their reasons._

Lily continued walking on in silence. Without Remus to supply conversation, Lily had only her mind to keep her company. She thought about all the studying for end-of-term exams that was left undone. _Tonight’s gunna be a long night,_ she thought. Her thoughts drifted to Sirius Black as she checked broom closets and empty classrooms for students out of bed. He was one of the many students her and Remus caught on patrolling nights. _Weird, Black is not out with one of his fans tonight._ And of course, with thoughts of Black, always came the thoughts of Potter. 

Slytherins, Petunia and James Potter’s arrogance were the only things that caused her to lose her cool completely. Her wonderful, caring, understanding, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly personality disappeared around them and was instantly transformed into a mean, quick-to-judge, malicious, excuse of a person. Slytherins and her sister Petunia were the people who made her life a living hell wherever she was. In her muggle home, Petunia insisted on calling her “freak” because she was a witch. At Hogwarts, Slytherins insisted on calling her “Mudblood” just because her parents were muggles. So really, she was being discriminated by both sides for being part of the other side.

James Potter, however, did not make her feel angry in the same way as Petunia and Slytherins. Actually, James Potter did not make her angry at all. That is, because, Lily had a secret that would cause a scandal if it got out. She had an immense crush on James Potter. That’s right, the same one that would tease her constantly and make sure that he asked her at least twice a day. Wait, if James Potter liked Lily, then what was the problem, you may ask? Well there are two main reasons for Lily’s rejection.

First, James Potter was ARROGANT. As mentioned before, he was proud and loved attention. James was the leader of his group of friends; self named The Marauders. He was extremely good looking, and he knew it. Many of the Hogwarts girls were quite taken with James. He and Sirius were the most wanted boys at Hogwarts. Although James didn’t date much, he still could have any girl he wanted. They were also very intelligent. They never had to try in class, do homework, or study for exams and always end up at the top. Everything came naturally to them. These boys were the picture of perfection. They were not only smart and handsome, but they were excellent Quidditch players as well. James was the captain and chaser of the team while Sirius was beater. As you can see, these boys were chased after by almost every girl. And right after you thought they couldn’t get any better, you find out that they are extremely funny. Not necessarily using their brains for good things, they played genius pranks on mostly Slytherins and innocent younger years. The pranks were well thought out and were usually laughed about for a good week. These boys always made someone’s day brighter, unless of course you were the one pranked. 

With all this attention, it was hard to be modest and humble. Naturally the two boys soaked it all up. James would have preferred the attention from Lily Evans, but, hey, you can’t have everything. But then, if Lily liked James, then why wouldn’t she just come out and say it? That brings us to our next point.

Lily loved to be different. She liked to set herself apart from the rest. This strange quality was started by her looks. Not many people you met had her bright red hair and piercing green eyes. She was easily picked out from a crowd and she preferred it that way. She liked to be different because if everyone was the same, then where was all the excitement? Her sister Petunia had something to do with it too. Petunia was the definition of normal. Lily hated it. She hated how Petunia had to be so _perfect_ all the time. She couldn’t stand her being so bland. Lily was proud to be different. 

She knew that most Muggle born kids like herself, would have an immense hate course through their veins at a thought of a Slytherin. Lily was not exception. But, staying true to her word, she made an effort to be nice to the Slytherins, just to be different. No one could understand why. Hell, she was even nice to Severus Snape. Even the Slytherins hated him. 

Severus Snape was a greasy, Dark Arts obsessed loser. He really had no friends and mostly kept to himself. Snape was also the main subject of the Marauders’ pranks. Potter and Snape were the deepest enemies. James hated Snape just for existing and being so damn obsessed with the Dark Arts. Snape hated James because he was everything Snape wasn’t. Lily defended him because of the reason mentioned above and left James baffled. Lily hated Snape probably as much as James did, but defended him all the same. She always did so up until the end of last year when he had called her a “Mudblood” while she was defending him. She had finally had enough.

Her wanting to be different was a bad thing as much as it was a good. As a result to this need, she was the nicest, smartest, prettiest girl in the school, but she couldn’t always have what she wanted. 

James Potter was one thing that she wanted but couldn’t have. She knew most of the Hogwarts female population old enough to like boys wanted him. So, she told herself she had to be different from the rest. That’s when her “immense hate” for Potter started. She yelled every time he pranked someone, even though she thought they were funny. She rejected him every time he asked her out, even when her heart told her not too. It really pained her that she was doing this to him and herself, but her need to be different came first. Now that she thought about it, it was really rather selfish. 

Lying to her friends wasn’t that hard as she thought. She really did think he was arrogant so all she had to do want rant and rant about it. She figured if she kept “hating” him, the silly crush would just leave her alone. _Right,_ she scoffed; _look where that landed me, liking him even more._ Lily found herself one night, trying to find the negative qualities Potter had. But, all she could find was the fact that he was arrogant. That was really his only fault. He was smart but laid-back, funny without trying hard to be, handsome but not looking like a fake male model, extremely loyal to his friends, and brave like a true Gryffindor. Not to mention, he was an excellent Quidditch player. This routine of trying to find his bad qualities, forced her to observe him closer. She would then notice things she hadn’t noticed before and would end up liking him more than she had two hours earlier. He was right, she couldn’t resist his charm. She had fallen for him.

Her patrol was almost over and Lily sighed gratefully. She had only run into a couple of first years out of bed tonight. She was a very independent person, but couldn’t help but feel a little alone and vulnerable without Remus. The castle could be very scary at night. Lily shivered. She always patrolled a little more carefully during full moons, trying to avoid Slytherins at all costs. 

          Lily made her way back to the Gryffindor Tower. She quietly said the password to the Fat Lady and made her way into the Gryffindor Common Room. Studying was going to have to wait for another night as she was too tired from patrolling to do anything but sleep. Making her way up the Girls dormitory staircase, she thought once again about Potter. _Why does he always act so high and mighty?_ If she ever got over her strange need to be different and Potter matured a bit, she would definitely give him a chance. 

As she walked up the stairs, James Potter’s image rested in her mind. How his hair would always be messy and windswept. She thought of the way his wire-framed glasses would fall to the tip of his nose, as he was looking over Quidditch plays with Black. She thought of his soft, hazel eyes that seemed to twinkle, much like Dumbledore’s when he and his friends successfully pulled off a prank. Not to mention the extremely toned body of a typical star chaser and captain of an excellent Quidditch team. His dashing smile that he would always shoot her when she caught him looking. It usually brought a small blush creep to her cheeks, but she covered it up by acting as her cheeks were flushing in anger. She found James Potter to be absolutely good-looking. That fact didn’t help Lily in trying to get over him, but it didn’t help James either for that matter. He was so _unbearably_ cocky already and being extremely handsome didn’t help. 

Lily sighed as she quietly opened the door to the dormitory she shared with the other sixth year Gryffindor girls. As she changed into her pyjamas and made her way into her four-poster bed, she thought about how stupid she was for always wanting to be different. _Maybe I should just give it up? Give Potter a chance?_ she questioned. _Blimey, what am I thinking? This is who I am, whether I like Potter or not._ Lily yawned. _Man, patrolling is really tiring, I can’t even think straight._ And with that thought, Lily fell asleep.   


	2. No Yelling?

**Chapter 2: No Yelling?**

          Lily awoke bright and early on September 1st, eager to be returning for the last time to her home; Hogwarts. The summer had been horrible for Lily. Yes, she got to see her loving parents again, but she couldn’t help but feel that they could no longer understand her because she was a witch. She also felt isolated; she was now a legal witch living in a Muggle world, not knowing what was going on. Sure, she got the _Daily Prophet,_ but really, what use was that when they would report bollocks about the growing attacks on wizard and muggle families?

Everyone knew that these attacks were caused by the ever rising Lord Voldemort, a constant threat to every family, besides those faithful to him; the families of Death Eaters and those who support him. It was sick how the people ruining families got to keep theirs. Lily’s heart would ache just thinking about it. He was so threatening even, that many people stopped saying his name. _That is just absurd!_ exclaimed Lily when she first heard of this. _Why be afraid of a name? It won’t hurt you. Being afraid of a name will just cause him to grow stronger and more confident._ Virtually everyone was in danger and the Ministry was doing nothing. They had ordered the _Daily Prophet_ not to reveal any pressing details about deaths or anything that really mattered. The Ministry had informed the public that there was nothing to worry about and they would be catching Voldemort soon. Lily scoffed.

_Lord_ Voldemort was another reason that she did not enjoy her summer. Nightmares of him coming to her house and killing her parents scared her immensely. She hated how her being a witch was putting her parents’ lives in danger. She knew that as a Muggle born, there were many consequences for her and her family. Her parents didn’t know about this man called Voldemort, although, they had heard of his evil doings. He was killing innocent Muggles, and the Muggles could not figure out how these people were killed. She didn’t want to tell her parents because she was afraid they wouldn’t understand; yet again. She also didn’t want to scare them and take her out of Hogwarts. Hogwarts was the safest place for her to be, but she knew her parents would still be worried. Lily sighed while she finished some last minute packing and changed into her clothes.

“FREAK! GET DOWN HERE! BREAKFAST IS READY!”

Lily rolled her eyes and made her way downstairs. Another reason to be going back to Hogwarts. _Petunia._ She had been dreadful the last couple of months. She seemed to be even more unpleasant than usual. Any time she was away from her new boyfriend, Vernon, she would call Lily “freak” or taunt her about not having any friends at her school. This annoyed Lily to no end. Lily had vowed to herself at the beginning of summer that she would not hex her sister, no matter how unbearable it became. She was making an effort to be kind to Petunia. Of course she was used to this un-sisterly behaviour, but she still couldn’t help but feel a little hurt as she had done nothing wrong to make her hate her so much. Being nice didn’t help the situation much. Finally, during the middle of the summer, Lily simply gave up. 

“Good morning, Mum, Dad, Petunia,” Lily chanted as she entered the kitchen.

“Good morning, Sunshine. How’s our little Head Girl?” asked her father, looking up from that morning’s paper. 

Lily smiled and responded, “Just fine, thanks. I’m really excited to get back.” Yes, Prefect Lily had been up-graded to Head Girl. She was immensely proud at having obtained this position. She knew that the Slytherins were not going to like this; responding to a _Mudblood._ _Haha. Oh well._ she thought happily. 

Lily wondered who the Head Boy was. She really didn’t mind who it was as long as it was NOT a Slytherin. Head Girl was an extremely difficult job, and didn’t need a Slytherin throwing insults at her every 5 seconds to make it worse. 

After finishing breakfast, Lily and her parents got into the car to King’s Cross Station. Lily said goodbye to her sister, who merely grunted in response. Lily knew Petunia was celebrating inside, but she would not show it because their parents were watching. 

At the train station, Lily’s mother was in tears. “Oh, Honey, you’re all grown up! Our little Head Girl! Oh, I’m going to miss you so much!” She pulled Lily into a fierce hug.

Lily’s father simply said that he was proud and loved her very much. Oh how Lily loved her parents; they were so supportive. Lily was close to tears herself as she smiled brightly at them and made her way to the barrier. She said goodbye one last time, returned their love, and set off. 

On the platform, Lily saw many familiar faces. Many waved a hello and Lily waved back, smiling broadly. She even smiled at Sirius Black; she was in such a good mood. How she missed the wizarding world!

“LILY!”

Lily turned around searching for the voice of her best friend Marlene McKinnon. Marlene ran towards Lily and gave her a huge hug. Marlene was not gorgeous, but she was fairly pretty. Her hair was just past her shoulders and was light brown. Her eyes were slightly darker and she had a pretty face. Marlene was in Gryffindor with Lily as well. 

“MARLY! How have you been! I missed you so much. Summer was so boring without you, and God, was Petunia a nightmare!”

“Aw, poor you! But you made HEAD GIRL! CONGRATULATIONS!” Marlene shouted happily.

“SHH. _Bloody Hell._ You should not be allowed shout, you almost broke my eardrum,” said Lily. “I still don’t know who Head Boy is.” 

“Well, come on then. Let’s get on the train and wait for Melissa and Nicole.” The two girls gave their trunks to the boys who took care of the luggage and boarded the train. They made their way to the familiar compartment they had shared with the other two girls. Lily wasn’t as close with Melissa and Nicole as she was with Marlene, as the Nicole and Melissa were best friends, but they were friends all the same. 

When they arrived, Nicole and Melissa were already sitting in the compartment chatting contently. 

“LILY! MARLENE!” they shouted in unison.

“NICK! MEL!” Lily and Marlene replied.

The four girls hugged and caught up with each other just before Lily announced she had to make her way to the Prefect compartment. She was finally going to see who the Head Boy was. Finally.

_Maybe it’s Remus,_ she thought hopefully. _Naw, never mind, he has too much to worry about being a werewolf and all._ Lily opened the compartment and stopped abruptly. Sitting there, were the Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They were all laughing heartily at one of the jokes they had told. 

James Potter. Lily’s heart pounded a little faster. During the summer, Lily spent a lot of time just thinking in her room in order to get away from Petunia. She decided that after all, not being different just for James Potter was what she really wanted. She was FINALLY going to loosen up a bit for her last year, stop being so obsessive of her need, and let her heart take control for once.

Lily eyed them strangely but asked pleasantly, “Hello boys, what are you doing here?” Although Lily seemed uptight, she really wasn’t, it was just around Potter that she would change her personality, _just to be different,_ she thought bitterly. The boys stopped laughing and looked at her. 

“Lily! I see you’re Head Girl! Congratulations! I knew you’d get it,” said Remus as he smiled. 

“Thanks Remus, so what are you doing here?” Lily asked again.

“Well, it turns out that one of us have made Head Boy,” Sirius responded, looking at her with a mischievous look on his face.

Curious, Lily asked, “Who? Remus?” she said looking at him.

“Nope,” answered Remus, his smile growing.

Lily stopped to think. _It can’t be Pettigrew obviously; he isn’t nearly as smart as the other three. That leaves Potter and Black. WAIT. POTTER OR BLACK. DAMN. Knowing Black, he would just goof off and have three girls hanging off him during meetings. And if it’s Potter, than I would act like a complete fool and totally scare him off. GREAT._

“So, which one of you is it?” said Lily nervously, looking a little scared.

James coughed and Lily groaned and shut her eyes. “Oh no. Oh no. OH. NO.” Being so close to James virtually everyday was enough to make a girl go crazy. Not in a bad way of course. Sirius snickered at Lily’s obvious distress. James glared at him, but remained quiet. Remus smiled sympathetically at her and Peter looked on in confusion.

“What’s so bad about Prongs being Head Boy?” Peter asked, still confused. 

By this time, Lily had taken a seat to stop from falling over. She put her head in her hands and asked, “So, it’s true then?” Her voice muffled by her hands.

          “Yup,” Sirius and Remus answered. “Turns out that our little Jamesie here got top marks on last years exams and OWLS, and –what did the letter say Prongs?-‘showed an astounding amount of responsibility’ last year” Sirius mimicked, snickering again.

          “Shut it, Padfoot,” said Remus, laughing quietly. James was still unusually quiet. 

          Lily took some calming breaths, reminding herself not to completely freak out. She sighed, “Well Pot-I mean _James_ , if we are going to be working together, we might as well act like friends…” she said somewhat reluctantly. She was grimacing as she tried to get control over her emotions.

          

          The four boys stared at her in shock. They wore identical faces; eyes popping out of their faces and mouths hanging open.

          “W-w-h-whaatt…?” Sirius sputtered, “No yelling? No slapping? No insulting? No ‘is Dumbledore off his rocker’ speech? _Act like friends?!_ ” he finished; looking as though Lily had declared she was pregnant with his baby. 

          “Umm…no?” Lily responded, regretting it a little because of the reaction she had caused. She was still slightly grimacing.

          “O-okaayy,” said Remus carefully, “Uhh, Sirius, Peter and I will just be leaving now…Right guys?” he said dragging Peter and Sirius, forgetting that he was a Prefect and had to stay for the meeting. James still had that shocked look on his face.

          “Moony, why isn’t she yelling? That’s why we came here with Prongs! To see her yell! Moony, WHY ISN’T SHE YELLING?!” Sirius finally managed. He was very upset that he wasn’t able to see the entertaining shouting match resulted from Lily Evans’ temper. 

          Remus quickly dragged the two Marauders out the door before shooting, “Tootles!” 

          Lily was now very uncomfortable as James was staring at her as though she had sprouted a plant at the top of her head. 

          “Umm…James? Could you please stop staring?” Lily asked impatiently after many loud coughs. James shook his head, coming out of his shock.

          

He cleared his throat, “Oh, uh, sorry Lily, I was kind of expecting you to yell at me, you know, what Sirius said,” said James sheepishly.

Now VERY uncomfortable, Lily replied, “Yea, umm, I guess we should start the prefect meeting?” He nodded and they opened the door to let the prefects in. 

The meeting went smoothly, Lily and James getting over their awkwardness and both proving to the prefects that they were chosen rightly. Lily was impressed by James, but she chose not to show it. He was acting mature, cracking a couple of jokes here and there and Lily actually smiled for some of them. She was thankful he didn’t try and ask her out during the prefect meeting, forcing her to reject him yet again in front of all the prefects. She wasn’t ready for that step yet.

After the meeting, James called Lily back. She hoped to God that he wasn’t going to ask her what she thought he was going to. 

“Um, I just wanted to say that, uh, I was just as surprised as you that Dumbledore picked me for Head Boy. You know, with my background, I swear I should be expelled by now,” he said unbelievingly. “And I promise that I will try my hardest to live up to your expectations, I won’t let you or Dumbledore down,” he said.

Now it was Lily’s time to be shocked, although her mouth wasn’t hanging open like the boys’ were. She knew he was somewhat mature, but wow, this was _really_ grown up. “U-umm…” she started, “okay, well, uh, thanks…” she finished uncertainly. She turned and started to leave. “See you later, Po-James.” And she left. 


	3. She'll Come Around

**Chapter 3: She’ll Come Around**

_What was that?! Why was I so awkward? Oh GOD! I acted like a fool!_ She ranted to herself in her head. She entered the compartment where her friends were playing a game of Exploding Snap. She felt faint.

“Quick, Marlene, feel my forehead. Am I sick?” she asked almost hopefully. Marlene looked at her oddly but complied. 

“Umm, I don’t think you’re sick, but you look kind of flushed. Did something happen?” she asked carefully. Lily sat down in a rush; the other girls were very confused.

“Lily, what’s wrong? What happened?” Marlene tried again, concerned.

Lily took a deep breath and answered, “James Potter is Head Boy,” she said quietly, almost to herself.

The three other girls gasped in shock, “WHAT?” asked Nicole. 

“James Potter is Head Boy,” Lily said again, still quietly and still shocked. 

“…What?” asked Melissa, in almost a whisper.

“James. Potter. Is. Head. Boy.” Lily said impatiently this time. _How many times do I have to say it?_ She thought angrily in her head.

“Oh my,” replied Marlene. She took a seat across from Lily and breathed deeply. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Lily said, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Well, you always hated Potter, so I’m assuming that you’re very upset over this…” Marlene trailed off, looking uncertain.

Lily sighed yet again. What should she tell them? “W-well, it seems that P- _James_ has changed a lot over the summer, and I also think that I should at least try and be nice to him seeing as we will be working together for the whole year.” She finished slowly.

The girls were utterly shocked. Never in their lives would they think they’d hear _the_ Lily Evans say that she was going to be nice to _the_ James Potter. 

_A lot of surprises today, aren’t there?_ Thought Lily, annoyed at her friends’ gaping.

“I-I’m confused,” said Melissa, screwing up her face at Lily. “Why?”

“Um. Well ‘cause I thought I was acting unfair to him and, well…” Lily didn’t want to tell her friends of her “syndrome” and not wanting to be different anymore, so she made up something on the spot. “Because I’m trying to be kind to everyone this year, and leave Hogwarts known as the nicest Head Girl Hogwarts has ever seen.” said Lily. “Bloody hell, I was even trying to be nice to Petunia,” she added as an afterthought. 

Lily never had a problem of lying about James Potter before, but now it was unbearably hard. Her expressions were far too easy to read at this moment. Lily was grimacing. She knew this was a horrible lie since the students at Hogwarts already knew Lily as the nicest girl, even the Slytherins. There was no doubt in their minds that she would go down as the nicest Head Girl.

Melissa and Nicole, however, seemed to be satisfied with her answer and continued their game of Exploding Snap. Marlene, being the keen observer that she was, caught on very quickly that there was something else going on. But, Marlene knew that Lily would not be willing to share and gave her a look that clearly said, _You’re not off the hook yet, missy._ Lily was expecting this, and rolled her eyes at Marlene.

Lily returned to her normal self and the rest of the train ride was spent chatting about anything that came to mind until the Marauders decided to pay a visit.

“Hello Ladies,” said Sirius as they entered the Gryffindor girls’ compartment. He sat down across from Lily and looked at her strangely, a look of slight disbelief and confusion. Lily blushed. _Great, James probably told them how much of an idiot I was._

The rest of the Marauders seated themselves amongst the girls. James was also staring at Lily and she blushed again. Marlene then looked at her with an eyebrow raised, questioning why she was blushing. Noticing the direction his friends were looking, Remus too, turned to look at Lily. Soon Melissa, Nicole and Peter were all turning to stare at Lily, although they did not know why. 

Lily, noticing all seven pairs of eyes on her, said, “Yes? What are all of you staring at?” her voice slightly shaky and high, “Is there something on my face?” she asked worriedly, wiping her face of non-existent food. 

“No. No, Lily. There is nothing on your face,” replied Marlene. _Oh dear, I’m getting a serious interrogation tonight,_ thought Lily.

“Um, okay, so can everyone stop staring at me please?” Her voice was still high, and her face was still red. Remus, Peter, Melissa and Nicole all looked away, still not sure why they were staring at Lily. Sirius eventually looked away as well and joined Melissa and Nicole’s conversation. Marlene looked accusatory, but finally looked away. James was the only one still looking. Lily tried to ignore him, but to no avail.

She coughed and said quietly, “James, could you please stop staring?” James nodded and looked away.

…………………………

          He knew something was different the moment she stepped into the Prefect compartment. She didn’t yell at them for laughing. She didn’t yell at them for being in the Prefect compartment. She didn’t have a Lily Evans Temper Tantrum when she found out that James was Head Boy. She actually _suggested_ being _friends._ Well, kind of. She said ‘ _act_ like friends’ but that doesn’t matter.

          James decided to try and impress Lily Evans; not with hexes and jinxes, because he only knew too well how that worked. _No,_ he thought, _I’ve grown up; I’m just going to act normal, and none of that arrogant act._ _Yes, that would work._ He forgot that it wasn’t an act. Well, not exactly. No, James Potter was not normally that arrogant, just a tad. But when Lily Evans was around, he felt the cocky side of his brain control his actions. His whole body would react differently when she was around. When she walked into a room, she controlled his eyes with her shoulder length, wavy, red hair and bright, endless, green eyes. His body didn’t seem to listen to his mind; he wasn’t able to tear his eyes away from her breath-taking beauty. He couldn’t help it when something inappropriate came popping out of his mouth when he had not meant to say it. James always regretted what he said to her, but he didn’t have the guts to say sorry. Plus, he would probably end up saying something that he would regret all over again and make her hate him more. Truthfully, he felt like fainting at the perfection of Lily Evans; much like a teenage girl occasionally does after Sirius Black gives them his famous Marauder grin.

          Today was different though. James had finally gotten _some_ control over his actions. Maybe it was because Lily had not yelled, and that gave him some confidence. Maybe it was because he had matured over the summer. And during the Prefect meeting, she had even smiled at some of his jokes! James was in heaven. But he was confused. Why _had_ she smiled at his jokes? Why _hadn’t_ see yelled? Why was she trying to be nice? Was this some kind of a dare that Marlene had thrust upon her? _No, Marlene was looking at her strangely too,_ he reminded himself. _Then what?!_ James would never figure out how the female mind worked. 

          Back in the Marauders’ compartment, James entered the compartment looking dazed. 

          “Prongs, mate, what’s up with you?” asked Remus. He had left the Prefect compartment before James had. Sirius was still slightly shocked at Lily’s actions; or rather, lack thereof. Peter couldn’t care less.

          “Am I dreaming? Was Lily actually being nice to me? Moony, did you see her smile at my jokes? Is this a dare? Damn it! What the hell is going on here?!” James asked. He looked like he was on the wrong planet.

          Sirius was laughing slightly, “She smiled at your jokes, mate?” he asked disbelievingly.

          “Yes, she did, Padfoot,” Remus replied, completely serious. Sirius stopped laughing abruptly.

          “What? Am I dreaming? Was Lily actually nice to Prongs? She _actually smiled_ at _Prongs’, James Potter’s_ jokes? Is this a dare? Damn it! What the hell is wrong with Evans?!” repeated Sirius, confusion and disbelief etched on his handsome face. 

Peter was confused too, not because of Lily’s actions, but because he didn’t know what the boys were talking about. Apparently he also had short-term memory loss as he didn’t remember what had happened previously in the Prefect compartment.

          Remus shook his head at his friends’ faces. They were all staring at him as though he was a magnificent teacher that held all the answers. He wished he had a camera. “Did you guys ever think of the fact that MAYBE Lily is starting to see that James isn’t that bad of a guy? That maybe he has matured?” asked Remus. There was a slight pause until…

          “HAHAHA! Good one, Moony. LILY EVANS being NICE to JAMES POTTER? HAHAHA!” Sirius shouted. Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius’ insensitiveness. Peter seemed to be laughing too, only because Sirius was. James ignored Sirius and Peter and was looking at Remus with a hopeful look in his eyes.

          “Really, Moony? Do you think that Lily might like me?” asked James, eager like a child on Christmas.

          “Whoa, mate, one step at a time. I said that she might have realized that you matured,” said Remus, having way too much fun. “But you never know, she could have been abducted by aliens,” he added. James’ face fell. Sirius laughed loudly at James’ expression. Remus just chuckled at how hopelessly in love his mate was. 

James sat down and sulked. “So you think that Lily will never like me?”

          “Prongs, stop putting words in my mouth! Just take it one step at a time. Right now she’s willing to be nice to you. Just take what you can get,” replied Remus, exasperated. James agreed half-heartedly.

          “Don’t worry Prongs,” said Sirius, still chuckling lightly, “She’ll come around.”

          “Whatever,” said James, his tone indifferent. “Hey Wormtail, want to play chess?”

          “Sure!” replied Peter. Finally he knew what was going on. 


	4. She Doesn't Hate Me

**Chapter 4: She Doesn’t Hate Me**

          When the Hogwarts Express finally reached Hogsmeade station, Lily jumped off the train excitedly. She was so excited to be back. She said a friendly hello to the gamekeeper, Hagrid who responded with, “Al’righ, Lily?” 

          Lily couldn’t stand the looks Marlene kept shooting her during the rest of the train ride. The Marauders had decided to leave shortly after they arrived which was a relief. James surprisingly didn’t stare at her for the rest of the time he was there. 

…………………………

          James barely paid attention to any of the Sorting, he just clapped along when he noticed other Gryffindors clapping excitedly. He kind of forgot that this was his last Sorting, ever. 

          James didn’t notice when Professor Dumbledore announced his name to the Great Hall, declaring his Head-ship along with Lily Evans. Sirius roughly pinched his side and pushed him up. Some girls along the table were giggling at him and winking in his direction, but he paid them no heed. He just stared at Lily, not really noticing anything around him. When he caught her eye, she gave him a small smile and sat back down. His stomach lurched, and not because he was hungry. James was still standing after the clapping had stopped. _Did that really happen? Am I that hopeless that I’m starting to imagine things?_ Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled James back down onto the bench. He wasn’t really hungry, and hardly noticed the conversation around him. Only when Sirius tapped his head sharply did he come out of his trance.

          “Oy, Prongs. What’s up with you?” Sirius asked with an eyebrow raised. James looked around at his friends. Their expressions were very similar.

          “Prongs?” asked Remus, waving a hand in his face. “We’re worried for you mate. It’s your last Welcoming Feast and you’re acting as cold as a Dementor,”

          “What? What are you on about? It’s nothing. Just confused is all,” he replied.

          “Okay, if you’re sure Prongs,” said Peter. All three boys did not look convinced, but continued on eating.

          James sighed. He really should be enjoying his last Welcoming Feast. He tried to clear his mind of the red-headed, green-eyed beauty, but was horribly unsuccessfully. 

…………………………

          Lily was not hungry. She was just tired and wanted desperately to go to bed and not wake up till Christmas Break. She was NOT looking forward to Marlene’s constant questions that night. She sighed. Why was she so confused anyways? Changing should not be this difficult. Her mind was constantly on James Potter and how his hazel eyes would look at her, like she was the only one in the room. The way he struggled to find the right words to say to her. She barely registered the fact that this was her last Welcoming Feast. She smiled at her friends and looked down at her untouched food. _Well, if I get hungry later, I can always go to the kitchens for a little snack later on…_

          The feast ended with Dumbledore’s traditional speech as always, reminding students of rules and other announcements. There was yet another Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; the previous professor had run off with a Veela. The male students of Hogwarts were insanely jealous. 

          Lily made her way up the many stairs and corridors that led to Gryffindor tower. She felt as though she could drop in the hall and fall asleep instantly. Marlene would have none of this, she was too curious to let Lily sleep. 

          Once in the dormitory, Lily quickly ran to the bathroom. She quickly changed into her pyjamas and washed up. She and Marlene had a plan for when they wanted to talk privately without Nicole or Melissa listening. They would pretend to fall asleep and once Nicole and Melissa were asleep, Marlene would join Lily on her bed and put a silencing charm around them once closing the bed hangings. It was simple, but it worked. 

          Lily was starting to fall asleep when Marlene opened her hangings. Lily groaned, hoping that Marlene would forget about the interrogation. Too bad Marlene remembered _everything._

          “Lily, shh. They’ll hear you,” she whispered as she closed the hangings and sat on Lily’s bed. She looked at Lily expectantly.

          “What?” asked Lily to Marlene’s expression.

          “Well, what was that on the train?” she replied. Lily’s last strand of hope that Marlene would not question her disappeared. 

          Lily sighed, “Haven’t you ever heard of the saying, ‘Curiosity killed the dog’?” Lily tried lamely.

          Marlene looked at her disapprovingly. “Bloody hell, Lily. Just tell me, I’m your best friend,” she said.

          Lily sighed once again. Now she had to tell her, she used the ‘I’m your best friend’ line. Great. “Um. Okay, but this might take a while,” Lily grimaced; there was so much she didn’t know.

          “Well, Hun, we have all night,” replied Marlene.

          “Okay, fine,” said Lily defeated. 

          She quickly described to Marlene her want to be different and how she always chose her actions based on this want. Marlene proved herself as a worthy best friend by listening intently and making noises of agreement during all the right parts. Then, Lily reluctantly told her of her crush on James Potter.

          “IhaveacrushonJamesPotter,” Lily said very quickly and quietly.

          “What?” said a confused Marlene.

          Lily took a deep breath and said, “I have a crush on James Potter.”

          To Lily’s surprise, Marlene smiled wickedly and stared at Lily with approval.

          “Why are you looking at me like that? No disbelieving face? No ‘Lily are you off your rocker’ speech? No yelling?” she sounded oddly like Sirius did back in the Prefect compartment. 

          “Nope, because I knew it all along,” said Marlene smugly.

          Lily furrowed her eyebrows, “How is that possible? I thought I covered it up pretty well, I’m pretty sure that I made it clear that I hated James,” she said confused.

          “Lily, Hun, you made it so obvious that the only explanation was that you secretly liked Potter. Obviously,” Marlene rolled her eyes at Lily’s face. 

          Lily was confused by her best friend’s logic. “What are you on about?”

          “Well you tried making it obvious so that no one would suspect that you liked him, and your explanation of your weird desire to be different,” Marlene made a face, “only proves me right,” finished Marlene.

          “Then why didn’t you say anything?” Lily asked, still confused.

          “Well, I assumed you weren’t ready to tell me, and seeing as I had to force it out of you tonight, I was right again,” said Marlene, quite proud of herself. “And also, I figured you would deny it anyway.”

          Marlene was right about that too. Blimey, she was good. Suddenly her stomach growled. She was not that tired anymore. Damn Marlene.

          “Umm, well now that I got that out, I feel much better. I was so confused at dinner that I didn’t eat anything. Want to make a quick trip to the kitchens with me?” asked Lily.

          “Sorry Hun, but I’ve tired myself out from all this advice-giving and girl-talking. I’m going to bed. ‘Night!” and she left.

          Lily rolled her eyes and left the dormitory.

…………………………

          After the feast, the Marauders decided to stay in the common room for a bit. They chatted and James thoughts were interrupted for a bit as Sirius decided to play an innocent little prank on an unsuspecting Peter. Peter ended up with orange hair growing rapidly out of his nostrils. The remaining Marauders laughed hysterically at Peter as his speech was getting affected by this orange mass of hair.

          “Fyes, helf me! I fant breef!” sputtered Peter. 

          Remus, recovering first, took pity on Peter and reversed the spell. Sirius and James were still laughing and close to tears as Peter tried to get his breath back.

          “Padfoot… _gasp_ …not… _gasp_ …funny… _gasp_ …couldn’t… _gulp_ …breathe!” said Peter leaning against the couch.

          “Sorry, Wormtail. Couldn’t resist,” replied Sirius, wiping tears from his eyes. James was still laughing quietly. 

          “Well boys,” said Remus, “We should get upstairs, we have classes tomorrow,”

          The rest of the Marauders reluctantly agreed and made their way upstairs. Now that there was no more distraction, James’ mind was coated with thoughts of Lily. As they entered their dormitory and made their way to their respective beds, James spoke up. 

          “Hey, Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail. What do you reckon I should do about Lily?” he asked.

          Peter, still upset about the prank, shrugged. Remus sat on his bed and looked at James, thinking. Sirius answered first.

          “Well, wait a couple of days Prongs, and if she’s still acting nice and whatever, then ask her out,” he said, “And if she says no, well then you’re back on square one,” he finished simply. James scowled.

          Remus rolled his eyes, “Don’t listen to him Prongs. Just continue to act mature and normal around Lily for a change and see what goes on from there. Show her that you’ve matured and that you really do like her,” he said wisely. 

          James nodded and went to sit on his bed. “Yeah, that’s what I’ll do, thanks Moony. Do you think she’ll give me a chance?” 

          Sirius and Remus exchanged a look. “She’d be crazy not to Prongs, don’t worry about it,” said Sirius loyally. James nodded again.

          “I think that I’m going to go down to the kitchens, I’m kind of hungry, anyone want to come?” James asked. 

          The three boys shook their heads, assuming that James needed time to think alone. James shrugged and left.

…………………………

          Lily walked quietly towards the kitchens. She managed to avoid all professors, Filch and Ms. Norris. She entered the kitchens and was greeted by swarm of House Elves, her favourite being amongst the group.

          “Pinky!” she exclaimed, “How are you?” she asked the frail, blue-eyed House Elf.

          “Pinky is doing well Miss Evans,” Pinky replied, “Can Pinky get something for Miss Evans?” she asked eagerly.

          “Umm, is it alright if I have some of the Welcoming Feast? I didn’t really eat anything before…” she trailed off as Pinky had already disappeared. She sat down at the replica Gryffindor table and waited for her meal. Not long after she sat down, food appeared on her plate and several other plates appeared full of extra food that could feed six extra people. 

          “Thanks, Pinky!” she said to the House Elf as she dug into her food hungrily.

          Lily was eating pleasantly as she heard the kitchen portrait open. She couldn’t see who had just entered. _Oh no,_ she thought, _what if it’s a professor? I’m gunna get in so much trouble!_ She hastily tried to wipe her face of food particles. She strained her ears to hear a familiar voice.

          “Pinky! Hey, how’ve you been?” 

          “Fine, Mr. Potter, sir! Would Mr. Potter like the usual?” asked Pinky. 

_Uh oh._ Thought Lily, she was frozen in her seat with still a little bit of food at the side of her mouth. 

          “Uh, no thanks, Pinky. Can I have some of the Welcoming Feast instead?” he replied.

          “Of course Mr. Potter! Actually, you are very lucky, sir! Someone is already here eating some of it!” she exclaimed. 

_Damnit, she’s going to give me away! NO PINKY!_ Thought Lily desperately.

“Oh, really? Who…?” asked James, curious.

“Come and see for yourself Mr. Potter!” said an excited Pinky. Even the House Elves knew about James liking Lily. Word sure does get around.

James turned the corner and saw Lily sitting shocked at the Gryffindor Table. She had a little bit of food on her mouth, wearing pink plaid pyjamas and James thought she looked absolutely adorable.

“Hello Lily. Surprise seeing you down here,” he said in his most casual voice.

She seemed to come out of her shook and blushed, “Uh, yeah. I didn’t really eat much during the Feast. You?” she asked.

“Hmm, funny. I didn’t eat much either.”

They both fell silent. They weren’t sure what else to say. James looked at his feet and Lily looked down at her plate. She was still hungry but decided that she should leave.

“ _Ahem._ Um, well this was nice. I think I’m going to go -” she started.

“NO!” James shouted, “I mean, if you’re still hungry, I mean, I could leave, I interrupted your dinner after all,” he finished.

_Aww, he’s so sweet, and he looks so good…_ she sighed out loud and looked at him. She didn’t say anything.

“Uh, Lily?” he asked, “Do you want me to leave?”

“OH! N-no, James. You can stay, want to eat with me?” she asked nervously. “I mean, if you don’t want to that’s fine, it’s just a bit lonely and-”

“I’d love to,” he said quickly.

He sat down across from her quickly because he would have fainted if he stood up any longer. Here he was, with Lily Evans, eating leftovers from that night’s feast. He could see how nervous she was, like she was asking herself if it was the right thing to do. He would make sure she didn’t regret it.

“So, Lily. How was your summer?” he asked as he piled food onto his plate.

“Horrible, really. My sister’s a nightmare, I basically locked myself in my bedroom all day,” she said. She looked confused. _Why did I say that? He doesn’t care about my problems…God, I’m so stupid._

“Really? What’s so bad about her?” asked James. He was genuinely interested. He knew Lily had a terrible sister, she had told Remus, who told James. But he didn’t really know that much about her.

“Well, she’s basically a Muggle version of a pure blood. She only likes “normal” thinks and likes to call me a “freak” just because I’m a witch,” she blurted. She hadn’t meant to tell him, but it just sort of slipped out. Words just seemed to flow out around James; he had so much control over her.

“WHAT? That’s terrible!” James was horror-struck. “Not only do you have to go through all the torment of those nasty Slytherins, but your sister too?” He was angry. Who did she think she was, treating Lily like that? 

Lily shrugged. “It’s really nothing, we’ve never been close. My parents said she was always thought that I was strange, I have red hair while she has blonde. And my eyes are green while hers are blue,” she shrugged again. “We might be biological sisters, but we never really acted like it.”

“I’m sorry, Lily,” said James. He truly was sorry that Lily didn’t have an older sister to love her, but had a monster that always put her down. “She’s probably just jealous anyways,” he added.

“Jealous?!” Lily scoffed, “I’m the last person Petunia would be jealous of. She has her _perfect normal_ life with her _perfect normal_ boyfriend and her _perfect normal_ friends,” she made a face of disgust.

“ _You’re_ not jealous, are you?” he asked quietly.

“WHAT? Oh goodness, no!” she looked scandalized, “I could never live a life like that. It’d be too horribly boring. Life can’t be perfect. That’s the whole point of life. It’s supposed to have flaws and unexpected events. Could you imagine living with the exact same routine and nothing ever happening? I could NEVER live like that,” she stated. 

James stared at her, eyes round, mouth slightly open. “I completely agree,” he said. Blimey, Lily was a genius.

“Kind of like life here at Hogwarts without the Maraud-” Lily stopped suddenly. She wasn’t supposed to say that out loud! _DAMN! Now he’s going to know that I find his pranks extremely funny!_ “I mean…”

James grinned like a maniac. She liked their pranks! Today was truly the best day ever. “Did I just hear Miss Head Girl Evans admitting that she liked the Marauders’ pranks?” he said smugly, grin still firmly implanted onto his face. 

“Um.” _Well really, what did it matter if he knew I enjoyed his pranks?_ “Who cares if I find your pranks funny? As long as they’re not harmless, then they’re fine, I guess,” she admitted.

James was not expecting this. He was speechless. Truthfully, he expected her to deny it. But now that she admitted it, he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Oh. Well then, would you object to me going off into the Slytherin Common Room right now, and say, colour Snivilly’s hair, underwear and robes…rainbow?” James asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing she would not agree.

“You know where the Slytherin Common Room is?” she asked surprised, totally ignoring the question.

“Well, of course. Us Marauders know this school almost as well as Dumbledore himself,” he said satisfied with himself. “But you didn’t answer the question.”

Lily rolled her eyes. There was that arrogance again. But today it was different. It was more jokingly than before. She found herself tolerating it. “No, I wouldn’t object,” she answered.

“What? You don’t object?” he asked confused.

Lily laughed at his expression. “No, James, I don’t,” she found talking with him was pleasant, after she had gotten control of her nerves.

Now James was absolutely baffled. She had laughed around him, while talking to HIM. And she basically gave her permission to prank SNAPE! Was the world going to the dogs? 

“Okay, fine then. Let’s go right now,” he said as he pulled her hand and walked towards the Kitchen entrance. He felt a jolt go through his whole body at the contact.

“What? James, you must be kidding!” Lily yelled. “I said I wouldn’t object, not that I would accompany you!” she tried to pry from his grasp. He had a tight hold on her hand. She felt it tingle and she found herself enjoying it. The thought of being so close to James made her feel all warm inside.

“Resistance is futile, Lily dear,” he said, grinning again. He noticed Lily was half-heartedly trying to fight him off. His spirits rose.

“Come on James. At least a different night; it’s already 3:00 in the morning!” she said, finally becoming aware of the time.

Realizing that she was right, he let go of her hand and stopped walking. “Fine, I guess you’re right, but you said another night, and I plan to take you up on that offer,” he said, still grinning. Lily had agreed to prank Snape! With him! Another night!

Realizing what she had said, Lily knew it was too late to back down now. She sighed. “Fine, Potter. Another night.”

James frowned. “What happened to calling me ‘James’?”

“Oh! Sorry, I guess it’s kind of a habit. Sorry, James,” she smiled at him shyly.

“It’s alright. I guess I still haven’t got used to you calling me ‘James’ yet either,” he admitted. “Come on then, let’s go back to the Common Room.”

Lily nodded and followed him out the kitchens. They quietly made their way back to the Common Room. Again, they avoided everyone.

When they were inside the common room, James asked, “Hey Lily. Can I ask you something?” 

“Um, sure I guess,” she said hesitantly.

“Do you still hate me, Lily?”

Lily was silent. How was she supposed to answer that? “James…” she started, “I never hated you. Goodnight!” And she ran up the Girls staircase.

James stared up at the stairs where she had disappeared. _What? She never hated me? Damn girls and their riddles! Can’t they just SAY what they mean to say for once?_

As James made his way up the stairs, he actually thought about what Lily said. If Lily never hated him, then she must have liked him a LITTLE right? _Or maybe she just said that so she didn’t hurt my feelings?_ He though, _No, she’s never been afraid to hurt my feelings before…but she’s different this year. DAMN! I’m never going to figure this out._ He sat on his bed and replayed that night over in his head. 

_That actually happened right?_ He looked at his robes and noticed crumbs down the front. _Yeeeup, that definitely happened._ He answered himself. He changed into his pyjamas and lay down in his bed. 

_Wow. I ate dinner with Lily Evans._

_No, I ate dinner with Lily Evans in the middle of the night._

_Wait, no. I ate dinner with Lily Evans in the middle of the night and I didn’t have to force her._

_Nope. I ate dinner with Lily Evans in the middle of the night, I didn’t have to force her and she seemed to have fun._

_Wait a second. I ate dinner with Lily Evans in the middle of the night, I didn’t have to force her, she seemed to have fun and surprisingly agreed to prank Snape with me!_

_Hold on, last one. I ate dinner with Lily Evans in the middle of the night, I didn’t have to force her, she seemed to have fun, surprisingly agreed to prank Snape with me AND she doesn’t hate me. Whatever that means. WOW._

Satisfied with himself, James fell into a peaceful sleep. 


	5. Distractions

**Chapter 5: Distractions**

          The next day, Lily rose with the sun. She always was an early riser, even if she slept late the night before. Memories of last night came rushing into her head as she made her way to the bathroom. _Oh God! What if he thinks I like him now! No, he couldn’t know, could he? Why did I say that? ‘I never hated you James’? Wow, how utterly stupid of me! AHH._ She took a hot shower to calm her down. It seemed to work a little. At least she could breathe a bit better now. She changed into her robes, dried her hair, put on a little bit of make-up and pinned her Head Girl badge on the front of her robes. 

Lily looked at herself in the mirror. Her wavy hair fell nicely past her shoulders. Her beautiful eyes seemed to pop out with the help of a little bit of eyeliner. She thought she looked acceptable. Little did she know that she was torturing the male population with her looks. 

She knew she had to give up her desire to be different in order to have a chance with James. If she didn’t, she would always thrive to be different and would never end up with James. _Wait, is it worth it? Do I really like James that much?_ She asked herself. _YES._

As this thought entered her head, she panicked and went to wake up Marlene.

…………………………

          James woke up groggily to the sound of Remus shuffling through his trunk. He rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses. 

          “Moony, what’re you doin’?” he asked, sleepily. 

          “Looking for my Transfiguration text book.” Remus answered. He looked at his watch. “It’s about time you get up Prongs, breakfast starts in 15 minutes.”

          James got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. He noticed Sirius and Peter still fast asleep and Remus attempting to wake them up. Sirius swatted Remus like a fly and James chuckled at Remus’ insulted face. 

          James took a quick shower and by the time he was done, Peter was awake but Sirius was still fast asleep. Remus was sitting is his bed, reading a book; obviously he had given up trying to wake up Sirius. James walked over to his Sirius’ bed, going to make an attempt to wake up his best friend. 

          “OH! HEEEEELLLLOOO VERONICA! MY, ARE YOU LOOKING NICE TODAY!” shouted James in Sirius ear. 

          

          Sirius jumped up suddenly, all thoughts of sleeping gone. “Hello Veronica! What are you doing here?” he asked, looking around James, who almost had his glasses knocked off by Sirius. 

          Peter was on the floor, clutching his sides, laughing violently. Remus was shocked that such a thing could wake up his sleep-loving friend, and was looking disbelievingly at him. James was readjusting his glasses and was laughing lightly.

          “Works every time,” he said winking at Remus, who still looked shocked. 

          “How’d you do that, Prongs? I tried everything!” cried Remus, distressed that James got him up so quickly. “I even tried pouring cold water on his face! Do you know what he did? Sat up, dried it with his wand, and went back to sleep!”

          James shrugged. “He lives with me remember? Sirius fancied this girl on my street for a while. He would always jump at the mere mention of her. So one morning, I shouted her name and Sirius has never had a good sleep in for the rest of the summer,” said James, simply. 

          Sirius was disgruntled. Jumping out of bed that fast had caused him to become very dizzy and he almost fell to the floor. Peter was still laughing like a maniac and didn’t look like he would stop anytime soon.

          “SHUT IT, WORMTAIL!” shouted Sirius. Peter stopped laughing abruptly. Turns out he could stop laughing. Who knew? 

          “Whoa, someone’s grumpy in the morning,” remarked an amused Remus.

          “Tell me about it,” said a laughing James.

          “Sod off,” replied Sirius. He walked to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

          

          When Sirius was done in the bathroom, he was in a better mood. 

          “So Prongsie,” said Sirius, grinning, “Where’d you go last night? You weren’t back by the time I went to bed and that was around, three in the morning?” he asked as they left the dormitory.

          “I went to the kitchens like I told you I was,” said James, blushing slightly as memories came flooding back to him.

          “And…?” asked Remus, curious.

          “I ran into Lily,” he replied. 

          “What happened?” asked Peter, “Did you kiss?” Peter sounded a bit _too_ interested. 

          “No, Wormtail,” said James. His three friends looked at him, expecting more.

          “Well, aren’t you going to tell us what happened, mate?” asked Sirius, one eyebrow rising.

          So, James retold the story to the rest of the Marauders on their way down to the Great Hall. He made sure to tell them about how Lily agreed to prank Snape another night, meaning she agreed to meet him another time. And he told them about how she said ‘ _I never hated you_ ’ and left.

          “Are you sure that even happened, Prongs?” asked Peter.

          “Of course it did Wormtail,” snapped James, annoyed.

          “What does that even mean, ‘ _I never hated you_ ’?” said a confused Sirius.

          “I don’t know! Why do girls have to talk in riddles all the time?” demanded an exasperated James. 

          Remus rolled his eyes at his friends’ extreme thick-headedness. “Hm. Maybe it means that Lily didn’t really hate James,” said Remus, talking slowly, making sure they understood. 

          “But Moony, that doesn’t make sense. If she never hated me, then why did she always yell, reject and glare at me?” asked James confusedly.

          “Dunno, Prongs” shrugged Remus. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, mate,” he said as they entered the Great Hall.

          “Okay Moony, if you’re…” James trailed off. His eyes were looking in a particular direction, not bothering to finish his sentence. 

          “Prongs? Prongs…James? JAMES!” said Sirius as he waved a hand in his friend’s face. “Jamesie? Jimmy Boy? Jim-Jam? Jamie-kins?” tried Sirius.

          “It’s useless Padfoot, James is in Lily Land now,” said Remus, smirking.

          It was true; James was too distracted by Lily to pay attention to silly things like finishing his sentences. He was once again captivated by her beauty. Every time he saw her, he never failed to be amazed. His breath caught in his throat and his heart thumped loudly. He swore the whole Great Hall could hear it, as it was echoing in his head. 

Her hair was shining in the sunlight supplied by the Great Hall’s enchanted ceiling, bringing out the different shades of red it in. Her eyes sparkled like jewels in a museum, catching the light and glistening as pieces of priceless jewellery. She was laughing at something Melissa had said and simply looked too good to be true. 

          He kept looking at her as he sat down next to Remus at the Gryffindor table. He desperately wanted to say hello to her, but all his boldness from last night had turned to mush at the sight of her. He sighed contently. James didn’t seem to notice the girls swoon as he entered the Great Hall. Frankly, he didn’t care.

          Sirius, always loving the attention, turned towards Prongs’ many admirers and winked. The girls almost fainted right then and there. It’s happened before.

          Peter was looking at Sirius with admiration and jealousy. Sirius and James could probably get any girl they wanted. Sirius had more, not because he was better looking or anything, but because James was head over heels in love with Lily to pay that much attention to any other girl. He also thought they were extremely dim. All they were interested in was snogging the daylights out of him. They would have been fairly pretty if they didn’t have make-up permanently caked on their faces. Sirius knew that these girls were not very good relationship material, but all he wanted was a little fun.

The girls were batting their eyelashes at James, trying to get his attention. With every minute that James didn’t notice them, they began batting their eye lashes even harder. Soon, they were looking like a bunch of clowns trying to get dirt out of their eyes by blinking rapidly. Remus tried unsuccessfully to keep his laughter in. Sometimes girls were so thick.

Sirius had enough of this and poked James’ hand with his fork. 

          “James!” said Sirius, snapping in his face, “Stay with us mate. Damnit Prongs, sometimes you act like a girl! Just go and say hi to her for God’s sake!”

          James blinked repeatedly at Sirius, much like those girls were doing before, although with less force. “What?”

          “Just go up to her and say hi, James!” said Remus.

          “Er, okay…” James started to rise. At that moment, Lily and her friends started to get up as well. They walked out of the Great Hall before James had fully risen out of his seat. James assumed they were heading to their next class. James sat back down.

          “Oh, well. We’ll see them in class right?” said James, somewhat disappointed.

          “Yeah, don’t worry about it James,” said Remus. 

They received their schedules for the week and headed to their first class; Transfiguration. 

As James entered McGonagall’s classroom, he saw Lily seated in the front of the class with Marlene as usual. She was talking with her almost urgently and James wondered if she was talking about him.

…………………………

          Lily, Marlene, Nicole and Melissa made their way to Transfiguration. Lily didn’t have time yet to tell Marlene what had happened the night before for fear of people overhearing; mainly Nicole and Melissa, since she didn’t want them to know yet.

          On their way to Transfiguration, Lily and Marlene walked slightly behind Melissa and Nicole to talk. She quietly recounted the story back to Marlene. When they entered the Transfiguration classroom, they sat in their usual seats and continued talking. 

          “So, what do you think?” asked Lily nervously.       

“Think about what?” said Marlene.

Lily rolled her eyes. “You know, about James,” whispered Lily.

“I think he was really sweet and he’s trying to show you who he really is,” said Marlene. “I think he really likes you, Hun.”

Lily blushed, “But, what do I do?” she asked, still whispering. She noticed from the corner of her eye, the Marauders enter the classroom. She didn’t dare look over, for fear of catching James’ eye.

“Well wait a little, become his friend. You two will be spending a load of time together now that you’ll have Head Duties and everything, and wait till he asked you out,” said Marlene wisely. “Plus, I think it would be better if you two got to know one another better before you jump into anything.” Marlene fake wiped a tear from her eye. “My baby’s growing up so fast.” 

Lily laughed then looked thoughtfully at her friend and hugged her tightly just as class was starting. Professor McGonagall started to lecture the class about upcoming NEWTs. She hastily scribbled a note of thanks to Marlene as she didn’t have a chance to after hugging her. Lily was truly grateful for a friend like Marlene. She then tried to concentrate on McGonagall’s words, but found it to be challenging as she felt the eyes of a certain James Potter staring at the back of her head. Not that she minded. 


	6. Working On A Plan

**Chapter 6: Working On A Plan**

          After class, Professor McGonagall asked if she could see Lily and James quickly before they headed to their next class. Lily looked at Marlene fearfully; Marlene just gave her a quick smile and left. Lily took a deep breath and steadied herself. Being around James made her a bit queasy. _I can do this,_ she told herself.

          Lily and James stepped up to McGonagall’s desk.

          

“Yes, Professor?” asked James politely. Lily was too nervous to even speak. _God, his voice is so…wonderful._ She smiled.

“First of all, I would like to congratulate the two of you for making Head Boy and Girl,” she said, looking between the two. “It has been far too long since the last Heads were Gryffindors.”

“Thank you, Professor,” said Lily and James, proud that Professor McGonagall was praising them so kindly.

“You will both know that with these titles come responsibilities as I mentioned in your letters,” she continued, “And I expect the two of you to be able to support these responsibilities along with your NEWTs as I mentioned in class today,” she said. 

“Of course, Professor,” replied James. Truth be told, neither one of them had listened to a word of the NEWTs lecture from McGonagall as they were distracted by other things…

“As you know from your prefect days Miss Evans, that you are required to patrol the corridors after hours to ensure that students are in their dormitories. Yes Mr. Potter that means you have permission to be out after hours, although I trust that you will not abuse your powers for unrelated tasks,” said McGonagall looking at James. He nodded guiltily. Lily bit back a laugh; he looked absolutely adorable. 

“Patrolling will start tomorrow night starting at 11 at night until one in the morning, understood?” Lily and James nodded. “You will patrol for the rest of this week and you will have a prefect meeting Saturday to determine patrolling schedules to be alternating between you and the prefects. There will be monthly meetings after that so please schedule the patrols for one month. I trust that you will not let me down.”

“And Mr. Potter, Quidditch tryouts should be held soon. I am really hoping to win the cup this year Mr. Potter,” said McGonagall. “Thank you. You are dismissed.” And with that, Lily and James headed out the door to their next class; Charms.

“So, what exactly do we do on these patrols?” asked James, as he was never a prefect. 

“Well, we basically just walk around the entire castle at night and check broom closets, empty classrooms, etc. for students out of bed,” replied Lily.

“Hmm. Interesting,” said James. “I’m guessing you caught Sirius a couple times with some _friends._ ” He knew full well that Lily had caught Sirius out of bed, Remus had told him. 

Lily rolled her eyes. “I swear that almost all the girls at Hogwarts have liked him at one point,” she said disgusted, “Really, they should get a hold of themselves.”

“You’ve never had a crush on him, have you?” asked James nervously.

“NO! I would never like him like that, he’s not my type anyways,” replied Lily, blushing. 

Interested, James asked, “What’s your type then?” But he never found out; Lily knocked on the door leading to the Charms classroom. 

“Come in!” shouted the high, squeaky voice of Professor Flitwick. Lily entered first, grateful that she did not have to answer James’ question. She probably would have told him too. That was the kind of effect he had on her. 

“Ah, Miss Evans! And Mr. Potter! What a pleasure to see you again! Congratulations on making Head students. Miss McKinnon here, informed me that you were speaking with Professor McGonagall, correct?”

“Yes, Professor,” Lily answered and smiled. Professor Flitwick was Lily’s favourite. Mostly because he taught her favourite class. She took a seat next to Marlene as James moved towards Peter. Remus and Sirius were sitting together in this class. 

That day, they were just doing review from previous years, starting with the easiest spells such as _Wingardium Leviosa_ and more complex spells they had learned during their sixth year. Lily was grateful for this lesson as it got her working instead of being forced to listen to boring lectures, causing her mind to stray to thoughts of James Potter. Now she could concentrate on the spells and be free of those distracting thoughts. She sighed contently. She loved Charms.

…………………………

          Charms was always a perfect class to have a quiet conversation. The class was full of movement so there was constant noise. James quickly whispered what had happened in front of him where Remus and Sirius were seated. Sirius looked insulted that Lily would say such a thing but got over it quickly from James’ look. Remus merely laughed at the two of them. 

          

“Prongs, try and avoid conversations like that, it’ll just lead to awkward moments and probably trouble,” advised Sirius. “ _Wingardium Leviosa_ ,” Sirius’ pillow lifted a couple of feet in the air before he returned it to his desk.

“Yeah, Prongs. Avoid conversations concerning Sirius and everything will be fine,” said Remus, fully knowing that that was not was Sirius had meant. 

James snickered and Sirius swiped Moony to the back of the head, ruining Remus’ levitation charm. He started laughing.

“Just try and get to know her more, become her friend, someone she can trust. Don’t ask her out until you’re certain that she’ll say yes. It would be a good idea to get to know one another more before jumping into a relationship,” mimicking Marlene’s words without even knowing it. 

“Good idea Moony, thanks mate,” said James.

“Anytime, Prongs,” replied Remus.

“Hey, what about ‘Thanks Padfoot for giving that wonderful piece of advice and always being there for me’?” asked Sirius disappointingly.

“Er, thanks Padfoot, for um…that wonderful piece of advice,” said James. 

“And…?” egged Sirius.

“Oh! And for always being there for me?” said James.

“Thank you,” replied Sirius.

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius.

The class continued on with the seventh year students practicing what they had already learned in order to practice for their NEWTs. Right when they finished rehearsing sixth year material, the bell rang.

…………………………

          Lily was slightly calmer after Charms class. Her nerves always went haywire when James was around. Her stomach would lurch and she wouldn’t be able to think straight. Previous years, Lily was able to control her feelings more, but this year was definitely different. She was sure that once she got control over her nerves, it would be very easy to talk with James, like last night. She breathed deeply. She couldn’t think of James. He was the reason that she couldn’t get a hold of herself. 

Lily walked towards the Great Hall for lunch with Marlene, Nicole and Melissa. They were chatting quietly about their classes. So far, they had to read the first two chapters in the Transfiguration textbook for tomorrow and a four-foot essay in Charms for Friday. Lily was going to have a bit of trouble balancing her work and her Head duties. 

Lily and her friends sat down at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. As they put food on their plates, the Marauders walked towards them. Lily fidgeted nervously.

“Why, hello there Ladies!” chanted Sirius. “Mind if we join you?” he asked.

Lily gulped. _Oh no._

Marlene quickly glanced at Lily and replied, “No, go ahead.”

Lily inwardly cursed Marlene. She told Marlene what happened to her when she was around James. Marlene was doing this purposely, she knew it. She wasn’t ready for this.

The boys sat down, Sirius sitting beside Lily, Remus beside him. James sat down next to Marlene who was across from Lily. Peter sat down next to James. 

          “So, I wonder what the new Defense teacher will be like,” chirped up Melissa.

          

“He looks kind of like a pushover to me,” replied Sirius.

Remus rolled his eyes. “Padfoot, he does not look like a pushover, just a bit shy…but who can blame him, it’s his first day,” replied Remus.

“Well pushover or not, I’m not looking forward to Defense, all these different teachers are enough to give me a headache,” said Nicole.

“When do we have Defense anyways?” asked Sirius.

“Right after Potions, which we have next,” answered Marlene.

Lily and James remained quiet throughout the conversation unless spoken too. They were both afraid they would say something stupid around one another that would embarrass them in front of the other. 

“Hey, Lily. What’s the matter with you?” asked Sirius.

“Oh, me? Erm, just tired, didn’t get much sleep last night,” she replied.

Sirius, Remus and Marlene smirked at her. Sirius and Remus did because they knew of Lily’s nightly adventure and Marlene because she knew that wasn’t the reason at all. 

“Hey James, you look kind of out of it as well, are you okay?” asked Marlene.

“Oh, uh yeah. I’m fine,” he replied, not looking at Lily.

Again, Sirius, Remus and Marlene smirked, but this time at James. Marlene did because she thought of the midnight excursion, and Sirius and Remus because of how James got like this around Lily. 

Sirius, Remus and Marlene all exchanged a knowing glance as the bell rang. The eight seventh years stood up and made their way towards Potions class. 

Lily walked ahead with Nicole and Melissa as James walked with Peter. Marlene, Sirius and Remus lagged behind.

“So boys, what do you suggest we should do about Lily and James?” asked Marlene quietly.

“So, you mean that Lily actually does like James then?” asked Sirius. 

“Well obviously. Didn’t James tell you what happened yesterday?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“Of course he did. But how’re we supposed to know what ‘ _I never hated you’_ means,” asked Sirius.

“Uhmm. Maybe exactly what you think it means,” replied Marlene.

“AHA! I told you Padfoot,” said Remus.

“So, wait. Lily never hated James then? I was all a show?” asked Sirius, thoroughly confused.

“Yup.”

“Why?” 

“Don’t question the actions of a female,” replied Marlene.

“I will never understand you women,”

“Good,” Marlene rolled her eyes again. “So, now that we got that covered, what do you suppose we do?” she asked again.

“I think we should lock them in a broom closet,” replied Sirius.

“No, Sirius. We are NOT locking our best friend in a broom closet,” Remus said. Sirius pouted. 

“Fine,” sighed Sirius. Marlene looked between the two boys strangely.

“Okay then, I think we should just hang out more and more so that James and Lily will be forced to talk some more and gain confidence around each other!” exclaimed Marlene in a whisper.

“Great plan! Then, we can lock them in a broom closet!” he said happily.

“No, Sirius! We are NOT locking them in a broom closet. GIVE IT UP ALREADY!” said Remus, frustrated.

“FINE!” shouted Sirius. James, Peter, Lily, Nicole and Melissa all looked back at them, confused.

“Haha, sorry guys…Um, Sirius here just agreed to, uh, yeah,” Marlene tried. “Hey look guys! We’re at Potions!” shouted Marlene.

“Good one McKinnon,” whispered Sirius in Marlene’s ear. 

Remus just shook his head and entered the classroom. 

…………………………

In Potions class, Lily sat down with Marlene as usual. 

“What was that all about?” asked Lily, still confused.

“Oh, nothing. I was just asking Remus about Transfiguration,” covered Marlene.

“Why couldn’t you ask me?” asked Lily, furrowing her eyebrows.

Marlene raised an eyebrow at her friend. “Do you think you could’ve actually answered my question, Miss Evans, with all the daydreaming you were doing?” asked Marlene teasingly.

Lily blushed and looked away, “I wasn’t daydreaming,” she mumbled lamely.

Marlene merely laughed as Professor Slughorn entered the class.

“OHO! Now isn’t it my favourite group of students!” he exclaimed, his giant belly wobbling as he made his way to his desk. “Lily dear! How was your summer? Practising Potions, I’m sure!” Professor Slughorn always favoured Lily and Snape in Potions and never cared if he showed too much favouritism. 

Lily grimaced noticeably, but Slughorn didn’t see it. “Just fine, thanks, Professor,” she answered. She hated when Slughorn would single her out during class.

“Of course, of course! I am sure that your skill hasn’t disappeared during the summer either! Shame that you’re not in the Slytherin House!” he said.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Professor, I was meant to be in Gryffindor, you know that. And plus, it was the Sorting Hat’s decision, not yours,” she replied.

“Right again my dear! Right again!” he praised, even though Lily had meant it as some sort of insult. Lily could call him a beefy, irritating, inconvenient man, and Slughorn would still praise her for her use of adjectives or laugh at her sense of humour.

“Alright then class! Let’s start today’s lesson! We will be starting with a rather difficult potion today and will be done in partners. Turn to page 364 please,” said Slughorn. 

…………………………

          James entered the classroom after Remus and sat down next to him. 

          

“What was that about, mate?” asked James.

“Oh, nothing. Just catching up with Marlene. Haven’t talked to her since last year,” said Remus.

“Oookkayy,” replied James, not thoroughly convinced. They sat in silence until Slughorn entered the class. 

“OHO! Now isn’t it my favourite group of students! Lily dear! How was your summer? Practising Potions, I’m sure!” he said.

James hated it when Slughorn would do that to Lily. Anyone but Slughorn could tell that she hated it; she even tried to insult him so he wouldn’t favour her for a change. 

James sat there fuming about Slughorn bothering his dear Lily, that he didn’t notice everyone get up to gather their materials. James would be working with Remus in Potions today, so even if James didn’t do anything, they would still receive top marks. 

The rest of the class passed by without much event, Slughorn praised Lily and Marlene and Snape and his partner for their wonderful work and as usual, passed everyone else by with just a word of ‘well done’. 

The seventh years made their way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, none of them enthusiastic about having a new teacher. They really didn’t think he’d be that good just by the looks of him.

          Professor Gripul was a short man, with pale wrinkled skin. He had a long nose with glasses and dull brown eyes. Indeed, as Sirius had remarked, he looked to be a bit of a pushover. 

          

“Good afternoon class,” he said. The seventh years were surprised to hear that he had a strong fierce voice. “Welcome to your seventh and final years of Defence Against the Dark Arts. My name is Professor Gripul and I am your new Defence teacher.”

“First, we will be reviewing the material you have covered in your previous years. Who can tell me what you have done so far?” he asked. Lily raised her hand. “Yes? Miss…”

“Lily Evans, sir. We have covered magical creators such as Boggarts, Grindylows and also Unforgivable curses.” 

“Very well, we have much to cover,” he said. “Now that you are in your final year at Hogwarts, I must prepare you for what lies ahead.”

Professor Gripul started his lecture about some dangers of the wizarding world. He talked about Voldemort and how they must be prepared for anything. He definitely was not a pushover. 

…………………………

          Finally the day was over and the seventh years were drained. They had received homework in every subject. Note taking in two classes and four essays. How they were going to manage was a mystery to them. Lily was never a procrastinator and got to work right away in the library. Other people like Marlene, Sirius and James, however, preferred to spend their time complaining about all the homework they had to do in the Common Room. 

          

“Blimey! We have four essays to do! How am I going to finish all of those with Quidditch _and_ Patrolling?!” James said.

“How about getting some extra help from a certain Head Girl?” said Sirius, eyebrows moving up and down suggestively.

“Shut it, Padfoot,” said James, blushing slightly.

“Aww, James is blushing, isn’t that cute,” cooed Marlene, mockingly.

James scowled and blushed even more. Marlene smiled at him and realized how much James liked Lily and told herself to make a harder effort to get the two together. 

“Okay then, maybe I should get started on that homework, after all it won’t get done all by itself,” she turned and winked at Sirius, looking in James’ direction. 

Sirius understood the signal and hoped up, “Yeah, me too. See ya Prongs.”

“What? You’re leaving me here? Where are you going?” he asked confused. Sirius was doing homework on the first night back? Marlene had already left the Common Room with her things and Sirius had to follow her. “Yeah, I was just gunna go to the Kitchens…kind of hungry,” he said thinking quickly.

“But, Padfoot, we just had dinner and you ate like a pig,” said James, somewhat disgusted.

Sirius shrugged, “A growing boy needs his food,” he answered and left. 

He caught up with Marlene and they started walking towards the Library to fetch Remus. 

“How’re we gunna get Remus out of the Library without looking suspicious?” asked Marlene.

“Do not fret, Marly, I’ll handle it,” said Sirius mysteriously.

“Okay…” replied Marlene.

They arrived at the Library and Marlene went to go inside. 

“Wait a second, McKinnon. Wait out here, I’ll get Remus. If you come in, Lily’s going to tell you to stay,” he said holding her back.

Marlene huffed, “Fine,”

Sirius smirked and entered the Library. It was so quiet. It was like someone had put the _Silencio_ charm on everything. This was only his second time in the Library, his first being when Remus forced him in fifth year to study for OWLs. 

Sirius looked around for Remus and Lily and found them sitting at a table in the back. 

“Hello there, Remus and Lily. How are you on this fine evening?” he asked a little loudly. He got a piercing stare from Madame Pince. Remus stifled a laugh and Lily just stared at him

“What are you doing here, Padfoot?” asked Remus. He knew the only reason Sirius would enter the Library willingly was if he really needed to talk to one of the Marauders or if he was in trouble.

“Well, Moony. It just so happens that I needed your assistance in…umm picking some flowers for a certain…animal?” said Sirius.

Remus instantly understood and stood up. “Sorry, Lily. I have to go help Sirius. See you later,” he said.

Lily looked at them oddly, “You need to help him pick flowers?” she asked.

The two boys glanced at each other. “Yeah, of course. Sirius is a bit colour blind and he can’t tell which colour to get for his…uhh…friend,” he finished uncertainly.

She furrowed her eyebrows. “Okay, good luck with that,” she returned to her work after shaking her head slightly.

The two boys left the Library quickly and met Marlene outside. Remus was shaking with laughter.

“Picking some flowers, Sirius? What a lame excuse!” he said chuckling.

Sirius scowled, “At least I didn’t tell a complete lie!” he countered, “Colour blind? Really, Remus,” he said rolling his eyes.

“What are you two talking about?” asked Marlene, looking between the two of them. Remus was still laughing and Sirius was still scowling.

“Nothing, nothing. Okay so what are we going to do?” asked Remus.

“Well, think of more ways to get James and Lily together without making it totally obvious,” replied Marlene.

“Okay, well we already agreed to hanging out more, what else can we do?” asked Remus. “And we are NOT locking them in a broom closet,” he said as Sirius was opening his mouth.

“I wasn’t going to say that!” said Sirius angrily. He pouted.

“Oh, sorry Padfoot,” said Remus, laughing at Sirius’ face. “What were you going to say?”

“Well, um…Fine! That’s what I was going to say,” said Sirius, defeated.

Remus laughed again and Marlene just shook her head. 

“Do you know what I think?” said Sirius, speaking up again. “I think that this meeting is completely pointless. I mean, what else could we possibly do without making it obvious?”

“Well, I told Lily to just get to know James a bit more before actually having a relationship,” said Marlene.

“Whoa. That’s what I told James,” replied Remus. “And I told him not to ask her out until he was positive that Lily would say yes,” he added.

“Well done. I think that will be good for both James and Lily,” said Marlene, impressed.

“Okay then, this meeting was completely pointless as I said. Now, Remus can go back to homework, I can go back to doing nothing with James, and McKinnon can go back to doing…whatever the hell you were doing,” said Sirius.

“Fine, whatever,” replied Marlene.

“Okay then, I really don’t think it’s necessary to have another one of these meetings unless something goes terribly wrong. Which I doubt will happen,” said Remus, confidently. “Now I must get back to Flitwick’s essay.” And he left. 

“So, Marlene, what _are_ you going to do now?” asked Sirius.

“Um. Maybe I’ll go back up to the Common Room, and hand out with Nic and Mel,” she replied.

“Alright then. Want to walk up together?”

She shrugged, “Sure, why not?” 

**A/N: Hello, thanks for reading :) now it's time for reviewing. How do you like it, or do you not like it? Dit moi**

**I have this story posted under "Wanting to be Different" on Fanfiction.net, its has more chapters, but if you want to continue reading on here, I will still be updating. So keep reading ;)**

**XD**


	7. What Are Friends For?

**Chapter 7: What Are Friends For?**

          James awoke the next morning, anticipating that night’s patrols. He was scared and excited at the same time. He didn’t want to say something stupid, but he didn’t want to stay silent for the whole patrol either. James wanted to be able to have an intelligent conversation with Lily and impress her with his knowledge. He made up his mind. He was going to gather up all the Gryffindor courage he had and start a conversation with Lily. Once he got it started, he was sure that it would be quite easy. Once he got control over his nerves, talking to Lily was enjoyable and not that difficult. _Come on Potter. You can do this,_ he told himself. 

          

James was the first one up in the dormitory. He hastily went to the bathroom and took a cold shower. It helped with his nerves. If he was so nervous now, how was he going to last the few hours before his patrol?

He finished his shower and went back into the dormitory. He checked the clock; it said 5:07. Seventeen hours and fifty-three minutes to wait. _Blimey, I can’t go through the day like this._

James paced the dorm for another ten minutes. He decided to get some fresh air out on his broomstick. Flying was always James’ way to relieve stress and nervousness. 

The Quidditch field was empty. _Well, no duh._ He told himself, _who else would be up at this ungodly hour?_ He mounted his broom and took off. It was slightly chilly as it was 5:30 in the morning, but it was relaxing. He felt the cool breeze on his face and just floated on his broom. He could stay like this for hours. He slowly became calmer. He flew around the goal posts for a while before retuning to the ground. He checked his watch; 6:15. He’d been out there for forty-five minutes. 

James walked back into his dormitory and took another shower. Now there was only a small little flutter in the pit of his stomach compared to the swarm of butterflies there was before. 

…………………………

          Lily was up early as always. She really couldn’t remember a day that she woke up past 8:00, even on weekends. But today, she did not awake early from habit, but from nerves. 

          

There was a constant uneasiness in her stomach, just like right before she was to do a presentation of some sort. She also got this feeling back on the Hogwarts Express when she was going to see the Head Boy for the first time. It was the feeling that was accompanied by James Potter.

Lily hurried to the bathroom to take a shower. Her first patrols were tonight and she didn’t know what to expect. Would it be awkward, like all of their conversations had been before? _No,_ she told herself, _the conversation in the Kitchens wasn’t._

She finished her shower and checked the time. It was 6:15. It was too early to wake up Marlene or to go down for breakfast. She sat on the window sill and looked out. It was a beautiful day; the sun had just risen and it was an orange-red colour. The trees of the Forbidden Forest were gently swaying to the wind. She looked across the ground and saw a figure walking towards the castle. She could see the tall figure holding a broomstick. He had black hair that was thrown in different directions from flying. She couldn’t see his face, but she could tell from the windswept hair exactly who it was. 

The sight of James Potter early in the morning didn’t help her newly calmed nerves at all. Her stomach lurched again and she got off the sill. _Breathe Lily. There is no way you can make it through the patrols if you act like this._

She paced her dorm quietly, careful to not wake the rest of her roommates. She knew they wouldn’t be too happy about that if they were woken up so early in the morning. 

Finding nothing else to do in her dorm, Lily decided to sit down in the Common Room. Making sure that James had gone up to his dormitory; Lily went down to the Common Room, made a fire and sat down in her favourite armchair. 

…………………………

          At 7:30, James woke up him mates. He couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

          

“HEY REMUS. WAKE UP!” he shouted. He figured Remus would be the easiest to wake up as he was the first one up on normal days.

“Wha? Prongs, was goin’ on?” replied Remus as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Couldn’t sleep, now get up!” said James.

“Why?” asked Remus confusedly.

“Cause I need some company,” said James.

Remus rolled his eyes and reluctantly got up. 

“So, you nervous about tonight then?” asked Remus.

“What? No, what makes you say that?” asked James quickly.

“First, you’re up before me. Second, you said that sentence way too fast to be considered normal speaking. Third, you’re fidgeting. Fourth, your broomstick is out of your trunk, which means that you went out flying, which means you are nervous. Fifth, I heard the shower start twice. Sixth, you were pacing right before you woke me up,” said Remus.

James’ mouth was open. “How do you do that mate?”

Remus shrugged. “I’ve known you for seven years. I should know when you’re nervous by now,” replied Remus. 

“Okay,” said James, “Well get dressed, I want to go downstairs. I’ll wake up Padfoot and Wormtail.”

“Fine, fine. Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” said Remus.

“PETER. GET YOUR ARSE OUTTA BED.” 

Peter grunted and fell onto the floor. James started laughing and stood him up. 

“Come on, Pete. We’re going to an early breakfast today,” said James.

“But, why?” whined Peter.

“Because I said so, now get changed,” replied James sternly.

“Yes, ma’am,” mumbled Peter.

James rolled his eyes and moved towards Sirius’ bed. 

“Prongs, that’s not going to work today,” said Remus. James merely looked at him and smiled.

“OH SIRIUS! VERONICA’S HERE!” chanted James.

“WHAT! Hello Veronica, what’re you doing here?” said Sirius, jumping out of bed. 

“Padfoot, how could you!” said Remus laughing. “You fell for that yesterday!” 

“It’s just a reaction for him. Everytime Veronica’s name it mentioned, his body reacts before he has time to think about it,” replied James, laughing slightly. “Mate, is it even 8:00 yet?” asked Sirius. He was grumpy because he has fallen for the trick two times in a row.

“Nope, it’s just past 7:30. Why?”

Sirius looked scandalized. “Mate, how could you? You know I have to sleep until 8:00 at least. It’s not healthy for me to wake up this early! My whole day is ruined now that you woke me up before 8!” shouted Sirius, really worried.

“Whoa. Sirius, calm down. I’m sure it’ll be just fine,” said James, worried for his friend’s health. 

Sirius put his head in his hands and groaned. “Might as well get up now that my day is completely ruined.”

Remus shook his head disbelievingly and continued searching through his trunk for his tie. 

Once all four boys were ready, they made their way downstairs to the Common Room. True to his word, it was indeed not Sirius’ day. He had tripped in the shower and received a nasty bruise on his leg. To make matters worse, he ran out of clean robes and had to wear dirty ones. And then, Sirius tripped on the last two stairs and fell on the floor. Disgruntled and cursing James, Sirius went to sit in one of the armchairs.

“Hey Prongs,” said Sirius, smirking at the armchair. “Might want to come here and see this.” 

Curious, James made his way to the armchair which Sirius was standing beside. There, sat Lily, sleeping peacefully in the chair. Her eyes held small bags from lack of sleep, and her hair was slightly messy from falling asleep in the chair. Her eyelids were fluttering lightly like she was dreaming. James sighed contently, forgetting that his friends were still in the room.

…………………………

          _Lily and James were dancing. There was a soft melody in the background as they swayed together. It felt so nice to just be in his strong arms. Her arms were up on his shoulders. She smiled up at James. It was like they were just made to fit together. Just by looking into his beautiful hazel eyes, she could see just how much he loved her. She smiled again and put her head against his chest. She could feel his heart beating against her head. She closed her eyes. So, this was what heaven is like. Then the music suddenly stopped. She heard Sirius’ voice say, ‘Might want to come here and see this.’ She heard a sigh, and opened her eyes._

          James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all staring at her as she awoke from her nap. She looked around and realized that she had fallen asleep in the Common Room. Lily blushed.

          

“Er, Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning Lily. Have a nice nap?” asked Remus.

Lily blushed again, remembering her dream. It felt so real, so perfect. She wished that she could be in James’ arms again, and she could look into his wonderful eyes.

“Uh, yeah. Must’ve fallen asleep down here. Couldn’t sleep again,” she replied.

“Hmm, that’s strange. Jamesie here couldn’t sleep either,” said Sirius slyly. He seemed to call James ‘Jamesie’ more around Lily.

“Really,” said Lily, not looking in his eyes. She was afraid that she might not see the love she saw in his eyes and that scared her. 

James cleared his throat, “Yeah,” he couldn’t find anything to say. “So, we have patrols tonight?” he tried.

“Oh, right. Yeah, at 11. Well, I think I’m going to go wake up the girls, see you later,” she said hurriedly as she got up.

Once Lily was up the stairs, Sirius started laughing. James sat down in the nearest armchair and groaned.

“Why can’t I do anything around her? Why is it that I can never find anything to say to her? WHY?” he asked.

“Mate, you just need to gain some confidence around her. It’ll definitely get easier once you actually start talking,” supplied Remus. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” said James.

Peter stomach grumbled. He looked at his friends sheepishly.

Sirius laughed again. “Well said Wormtail, well said.”

…………………………

          Lily ran up the stairs and into her dorm. She closed the door and leaned against it. She breathed deeply, trying to get the colour in her face to return to normal. During her mad dash up here, Marlene woke up.

          

“Lily? Is that you? What’re you doing up this early?” she asked.

“I was up from 6 this morning ‘cause I’m so damn nervous about tonight!” she said in a whisper.

“6 in the morning? Wow Lily, it won’t be that bad, really. I’m sure it’ll even be fun!” said Marlene cheerfully.

Lily groaned. She continued on, pretending like she didn’t hear Marlene. “And then I went to the Common Room to get out of this room and I fell asleep!” she blushed. “Then the Marauders found me and woke me up,” she said. She sat down on her bed across from Marlene’s and put her head in her hands.

“What’s so bad about that? And why did you blush when you said that you fell asleep?” said Marlene mischievously. 

Lily blushed again, but it was hidden behind her hands.

“Lily? Why aren’t you answering?” she asked, obvious that there was a grin plastered across her face. “Were you in an interesting position or something?”

Lily shook her head.

“Then was there something on your face?”

Again Lily shook her head. 

“Were you drooling?”

She was answered with a no.

“Were you dreaming of James?”

No answer.

“Lily Evans, were you dreaming of James Potter?”

Still no answer.

Marlene started laughing hysterically. She could feel the heat radiating off Lily’s face.

“Were you dreaming about snogging Mr. Potter? Were you dreaming about becoming Mrs. Potter? Were you dreaming about Mr. Potter’s hot body?” asked Marlene, teasing Lily and still laughing hysterically. 

Lily was surprised the other girls had not woken up to Marlene’s laughter. “We were just dancing,” replied a muffled voice from Lily.

Marlene stopped laughing, “You were what?”

“Dancing.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Was it nice?”

“You have no idea.” Lily groaned. She would die just to be in his arms again. “Marly, it felt so _real_. It was the best possible feeling ever. I felt safe. Like nothing could hurt me. I wanted to stay there forever. And when I looked in his eyes…” she trailed off and she looked at Marlene. “I can’t do this Marly. I can’t be so close to him knowing that I might never get that chance. I mean, he’s so awkward around me, almost like he doesn’t like me anymore! I finally change just so I could be with him and his decision about me changes!” shouted Lily hysterically. All her deepest fears were pouring out of her and she couldn’t stop it. 

Marlene was shocked. She understood that Lily liked James, but she didn’t know to this extent. Lily was _in LOVE_ with James.

“Oh, Hun,” said Marlene as she sat down next to Lily. “I’m SURE that James still likes you, almost positive that he likes you just as much as you do! I mean, no one chases after a girl for six years and abruptly stops after that! Come on, Lily. Get a hold of yourself. It’s only 8:00 in the morning and you are stressing! Calm down, you can do this,” said Marlene reassuringly. 

Lily breathed deeply. “Of course. You’re right. I still have a chance with him, right? I mean, I just need to subtly let him know I’m interested, right? Just wait until he asks me out, right?” asked Lily, slowly getting nervous again.

“LILY, STOP. You’re doing it again.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just going to get ready, then we can head down to breakfast, alright?” asked Marlene, looking at Lily like she would a small child.

Lily nodded and lay down on her bed.

“Good. Now just breathe deeply. In. Out. In. Out. Good.” Marlene left to go take a shower, leaving Lily to her thoughts.

Lily closed her eyes and practised breathing like Marlene said. _In. Out. In. Out. In. Out._ Her breathing was interrupted by a good looking, black-haired, hazel-eyed, Quidditch player. She sighed. _No. Lily, stop thinking about him. In. Out._ This went on for another fifteen seconds until he entered her mind once again, but this time with the love back in his eyes. _Blimey, he’s so perfect. In. Out. And his hair looks so soft. In. Out. I love it when he smiles. In. Out. And I could fall asleep in his eyes. In. Out._ And soon, Lily was indeed asleep. 

Marlene came out of the bathroom, showered and clothed. She saw Lily had fallen asleep on her bed and rolled her eyes. That girl worried way too much. 

“Lily, get up. Come on, breakfast is starting soon,” said Marlene, shaking Lily’s shoulder slightly. Nicole and Melissa had woken up when Marlene had left to shower and were ready and waiting for the other two.

Lily blinked and sat up on her bed. “How am I going to make the patrols if I keep falling asleep like this?” she asked.

“We have History of Magic first, so you can always fall asleep then,” thought Marlene. “And plus, I’m sure James will keep you entertained,” she said in a whisper so that the other girls couldn’t hear.

Lily blushed and nodded. “Come on, let’s go to breakfast.”

Marlene smirked and asked, “Are we going to sit with the Marauders today?”

Lily shot Marlene a nervous look and said, “Um, I guess that will be alright.”

When they entered the Great Hall, they made their way towards the Marauders. Many girls were immensely jealous of them, because they were really the only girls that the Marauders allowed to sit with them. Partly because they were in their year and house, and because James liked Lily.

“Mind if we sit here, boys?” asked Marlene. She winked subtlety at Remus.

“No, go right ahead,” replied Remus, returning the wink. 

The seating arrangements were the same as yesterday’s lunch, meaning she was sitting diagonal from James again.

“How’re you ladies this morning?” asked Remus as they sat down.

“Pretty good and you, boys?” replied Melissa. 

Remus answered with a ‘Just fine’. James grunted in response, Peter was too busy eating to reply, and Sirius mumbled something that only Lily could hear. 

Amused by what Sirius had said, Lily spoke up. “What was that Sirius? Didn’t quite catch that,” said Lily, smiled wryly at Sirius. She had finally spoken up in front of James. Talking with Marlene was a big help.

He glared at her but didn’t respond. James, seeing Lily’s attractive smile, gained confidence as well and answered. “Well, he tripped a couple of times in the dormitory, fell down a couple of stairs, got kicked in the shin by a first year, was yelled at by a few portraits and received a detention from McGonagall for use of ‘profound language’,” said James, ticking off his fingers.

Lily, Marlene, Nicole and Melissa all looked startled by this news. Sirius was glaring at James. Remus, James and Peter were laughing at Sirius.

“Well it certainly isn’t your day, now is it?” asked Nicole, amused by Sirius’ bad luck. 

“WELL, if it wasn’t for little _Jamesie_ here, none of that would have happened,” replied Sirius, still glaring at James. James frowned at the use of his nick name and replied, “Come on Padfoot. You can’t tell me that this is all happening just because I woke you up a bit early now is it?” asked James. 

“In fact, _Jamesie_ it is. It’s only happened once before. Remember that day during the summer? With… _Kendra?_ ” he finished with a whisper.

James burst out laughing remembering the ‘Kendra’ incident, the rest of the seventh years looked at them completely confused. 

…………………………

Breakfast ended soon after the seventh years finished eating and they walked towards History of Magic. 

“Why are we still taking this class again?” asked Melissa.

Nicole shrugged. “What else we going do?” she replied.

Melissa rolled her eyes and they entered the classroom.

This time, Lily didn’t choose to sit in the front. She decided to sit off the side in the back so she could sleep. The Marauders were seated in the back on the other side. Marlene quickly joined her and Professor Binns floated through the chalkboard as usual. 

Professor Binns was the only ghost teacher in the school. He had died during Lily’s third year. He had fallen asleep in front of a fire, and the next morning he simply left his body and came to teach like any other day. He never remembered anyone’s name and always talked in the same monotonous voice. No one really paid attention to his lectures anyways and it was mostly a nap time for most. 

Lily had always taken notes in this class because she wanted to do well and also because of the STUPID need to be different. As mentioned before, most students fell asleep during this class or didn’t pay attention. So, Lily diligently took notes every class like a model student. Today, though, she chose to sleep. 

About ten minutes into the period, the students had already drifted off. Lily was the only one in class who had too much energy for a History lesson. Instead of sleeping like she said she would, she found that she couldn’t. She was too worked up about that night’s patrols.

Deciding she was bored, Lily tapped Marlene out of her stupor and passed her a note. 

_Marlene, I can’t sleep now._

Why not?

_James._

What’s he done now?

_I keep thinking about him and about patrols._

Oh.

_Well, what should I do?_

Stop worrying. I already told you that patrolling will be fine. And you guys were talking at breakfast, so what’s the problem?

_I don’t know._

Don’t worry about it Lily. Really, it will be fine; I know that you guys will have immense fun tonight. Calm down.

_Yeah, I guess you’re right._

Of course I am. I’m always right.

_Right._

Okay, now go to sleep.

          Marlene immediately went back into her daze and Lily attempted to as well but she found that she couldn’t. She kept shooting glances at James. She told herself that that was not going to help, so she tried to find something to do. She didn’t want to bother Marlene again, so she started scratching her quill on the desk. Marlene woke up a bit and shot Lily an annoyed look to make her stop scratching her quill. Lily looked at her apologetically and stopped. 

Lily was bored again and started shaking her leg. Not soon after Marlene fell asleep again, she was awoken by a vibrating desk. She glared at Lily and motioned for her to stop. Lily smiled sheepishly at Marlene and discontinued her leg shaking. Marlene rolled her eyes and turned her head to the front of the class. 

Bored once _again,_ Lily started drumming her fingers on the desk, her chin in her other hand. Marlene, finally having enough, wrote Lily a note.

GOODNESS WOMEN! CAN’T YOU JUST STAY STILL FOR ONE MINUTE?!

_Sorry Marly. I’m too excited to stay still now! I’m going to be spending TWO hours with James tonight!_

Wait a minute, I thought you were nervous only five minutes before, and now you’re looking forward to it?!

_Uh, yeah. You’re pep talking does that to me, Marly._

          Marlene rolled her eyes.

Well could you do me a favour and NOT be excited so I can sleep peacefully?

_Sorry Marly, I’ll try my best._

Thank you.

          Lily tried to calm down but found that she couldn’t. Trying to find something to do without bothering Marlene, she put her head on the desk and twiddled her thumbs for the remainder of the period. 

…………………………

          

          James entered History of Magic in a daze. He was not in this state because of History of Magic, but rather what had happened at breakfast. That was the first time he was able to talk to Lily in front of his friends without embarrassing himself or Lily, and it didn’t end with Lily yelling at him. Really, he was wondering if this was a dream. 

          

He sat beside Sirius as usual and Binns entered through the chalkboard to start his lecture. About thirty minutes into the period, James finally got over his shock. He wrote a note to Sirius.

_Padfoot, did that really happen?_

What? The Giant Rebellion?

_NO, you nitwit. Breakfast._

Of course it happened. You’re full aren’t you? Are you feeling alright mate?

_Yes, Padfoot. I’m feeling alright. I’m asking you if I actually talked to Lily, or if I was dreaming._

Uh. I’m pretty sure that happened. Unless I’m having the exact same dreams as you, which would be totally creepy. Eww. I don’t want to have dreams of Evans naked, thanks.

_Padfoot, I don’t dream of Lily naked. Although I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t say ‘Eww’ if you did see her naked._

True.

_Nevermind Padfoot._

          

          James rolled his eyes at his unhelpful friend. He quickly wrote a note to Remus.

_Remus, tell me something so I can confirm I wasn’t dreaming. Did I really talk to Lily at breakfast?_

Of course you did. You weren’t dreaming, trust me.

_Okay, thanks._

Anytime, James. Even if you were dreaming about Lily, wouldn’t she probably be naked?

_NO! WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I DREAM OF LILY NAKED?_

No idea Prongs.

          Frustrated and embarrassed, James stopped writing notes to everyone. He decided to just put his head on the desk and twiddle his thumbs for the rest of the period. 

…………………………

          James and Lily drove their friends crazy during the rest of the day. They were either constantly worrying about that night’s patrols, or hyper with excitement for that night. 

          “Damnit Prongs! I know you’re worried, but SERIOUSLY! It’s TWO BLOODY HOURS! YOU WILL NOT DIE!” shouted an extremely annoyed Sirius. That day was probably one of the worst days of his life. In Potions, his and Peter’s potion exploded all over them, he received yet another detention from Slughorn for hexing Snape, and James needed constant encouragement to keep him going throughout the day. It was fair to say that Sirius was fed up. 

          

Even Remus, who usually kept his cool, was about to explode. He had acquired a headache due to James’ constant yapping. James was going through a ‘Worst Case Scenario’ faze and was naming ALL possible scenarios that could happen on the patrols, even if they were utterly insane.

“REMUS! What if the giant squid comes out of the lake and comes into the castle?! WHAT DO I DO THEN?!” asked a panicking James as they walked to the Great Hall for dinner.

“JAMES! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!” he slapped him across the face. “THINK LOGICALLY! DO YOU THINK THAT THE GIANT SQUID _CAN_ EVEN COME INTO THE CASTLE?!” 

James thought for a second. “There is a chance…” he said quietly.

Remus growled at his friend’s stupidity and stormed off with Sirius towards the Great Hall. 

Lily, on the other hand was a bundle of energy. Since Nicole and Melissa didn’t know about the James situation, they were confused about the way Lily was acting. Surely Lily wouldn’t be that excited to spend time with the guy she hated for six years of her life? 

“GUYS! GUESS WHAT! WE HAVE POTIONS HOMEWORK!” she said excitedly.

Nicole and Melissa looked horror-struck. Marlene was rubbing her temples with her palms, trying to get rid of the oncoming headache.

“Marly,” whispered Nicole. “What’s wrong with Lily? Why is she so excited about Potions homework?”

Marlene grimaced at her, but didn’t answer her question. “Lily, Hun. Could I talk to you for a second?” she said instead. 

Marlene dragged Lily into a part of the hallway that was not being occupied. 

“Okay Lily. Enough is enough. I tolerated your hyper-ness in every single class and during lunch. It’s time you calm down unless you want to tell Melissa and Nicole about your little secret?” 

Lily thought for a second. “Um. No. Not yet.”

“Okay. Then you have to calm down, alright? I know you’re excited but you HAVE TO CALM DOWN.”

Lily nodded. “Okay, sorry.”

“Alright. Now let’s go to dinner.”

The four girls entered the Great Hall and sat near the Marauders as usual. As Lily promised, she calmed down, but when she saw James, her nerves worked up and was now a nervous wreck. 

James looked a little pale and was fidgety. _Oh, no. Maybe he doesn’t want to patrol with me because he doesn’t like me! OH NO._ Marlene, recognising the look of anxiety on Lily’s face, hit her leg under the table and mouthed, “DON’T WORRY.”

Lily nodded and breathed deeply. In. Out. God, she was doing this a lot lately. 

…………………………

          After dinner, the eight seventh years went back to the Gryffindor Common Room. The four girls announced they were going up to the dormitory and left.

          

The four boys decided to stay in the Common Room until they could find something better to do. James had calmed down slightly and was no longer going through ‘Worst Case Scenarios’. 

James was about to open his mouth when Sirius interjected. “I swear to Merlin, James, if one more word about your patrol or Lily comes out of your mouth, I will make sure you can’t have babies,” threatened Sirius with a low growl.

James closed his mouth. He stopped to think for a second before opening his mouth again. 

“Ah ah ah, James. Not a word,” said Remus.

“But-”

“No buts.”

“No, I wa-”

“JAMES!”

“I WASN’T GOING TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT LILY!” he shouted.

“Well then, don’t talk at all,” replied Sirius, now raising his wand. 

“I just wanted to know if you guys wanted to play Quidditch, but since I can’t talk, I’ll just go by myself,” he said angrily. He walked up to the dormitory to get his broom.

“Finally, we won’t have to hear him ranting about Lily for a change,” sighed Sirius, closing his eyes and leaning his head back on the couch.

“Lily will be the death of him, really. We need to get those two together,” said Remus, mimicking Sirius’ actions.

Sirius grunted in response. He was falling asleep. Today was exhausting for him. It was a miracle if Sirius got through a half hour without anything bad happen today. It was his _lucky_ day after all.

…………………………

          Up in the Girls dormitory, Lily was debating with herself whether or not she should tell Nicole and Melissa her secret. In the end, Lily decided that it was for the best.

          “Nic, Mel. I need to tell you something,” she said. Marlene looked at Lily and nodded. She would help Lily tell them.

          

“What is it, Lily?” asked Nicole.

“Uh, that is. Um. Sorry, never mind,” Lily chickened out. She couldn’t do it. Marlene looked at her disapprovingly. Lily shook her head and started her homework. 

…………………………

          Three and a half hour later, James returned to his dormitory. It was 10:30. He had 30 minutes to get ready for patrols. He took another shower and practised breathing. He seems to have an argument in his head.

_Come on Potter. You’ve talked to Lily before._

**I know, but it’s not that easy.**

_It gets easier; just suck it up and act like a man!_

**I’m trying! I just get all tongue-tied around her.**

_That’s because you’re a chicken! Chick-chick-chicken!_

**I’m not a chicken. I just…just…Fine I am a chicken. But I can’t help it. I think I’m in love with her!**

_So you’re going to act like a chicken in front of the girl you love, are you?_

**NO! Of course I won’t.**

_Good! Now go get her!_

          He nodded his head to respond himself and went out the door. 

…………………………

          Lily had finished her homework long ago. It was now 10:30. She sighed. She couldn’t avoid it any longer. She brushed her hair and fixed her make-up. There wasn’t really a point in looking nice, as they were going to be in the dark most of the time, but she tried anyways. 

          

“Marlene, could you do me a favour?” she asked, turning around to face Marlene.

“Sure, Hun. What is it?” asked Marlene.

“Um could you tell Nic and Mel about…you know, while I’m gone? I don’t think I could,” answered Lily. Nicole and Melissa were downstairs in the Common Room.

“Of course Lily. Are you sure you want them to know?” asked Marlene.

“Yeah, but I’m afraid to do it, I’ll chicken out like last time,” she replied.

Marlene nodded. “Alright, don’t worry about it. It’s all taken care of.”

“Alright. Thanks so much, Marly.” Lily got up from her chair and moved towards the door. “Want to accompany me downstairs?” she asked nervously.

Marlene nodded and smiled. “Of course. Remember what I told you. Everything will be fine.”

Lily smiled and they went down to the Common Room. 

When they reached the Common Room, Lily looked around for James. She saw him sitting with the Marauders. His hair was slightly damp from a shower she guessed and he was staring into the fire with a pensive look on his face. Lily sighed and made her way over to them with Marlene. James hadn’t noticed Lily until she spoke up.

“Hello boys, how’re you tonight?” she asked nervously.

“Just fine, thanks. Here to take James away?” asked Remus.

Lily blushed, and replied, “Uh, yeah. I guess you can say that.”

“Well, you heard the girl, Prongs. Time to get moving,” said Sirius.

James nodded and smiled lightly at Lily. She blushed and smiled back.

Marlene, Remus and Sirius witnessing this little exchange, smirked at each other. Oh boy, were Lily and James oblivious to each other’s feelings.

“Shall we?” asked James, motioning towards the portrait door with his hand.

Lily nodded and walked towards the portrait with James following.

Once they were gone, Marlene started chuckling lightly. “Those two, they are so oblivious,” she said, shaking her head slightly.

Sirius grunted, “Got that right. I don’t think I can stand James any longer,” he said.

“So James has been super excited too, huh? Lily was driving me absolutely nuts!” she said.

“No, he wasn’t excited. He was paranoid,” replied Remus.

“Ah, I see,” she said laughing again. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got some business to take care of. Tootles,” she said walking towards Nicole and Melissa. She whispered in their ears and all three of them went upstairs to the dormitory.

“Wonder what that’s all about,” asked Remus. 

Sirius shrugged and asked, “Want to play chess Wormtail?”

“Sure!”

…………………………

          James and Lily walked along the corridors in silence. Lily was never a good conversation starter, and James was trying to work up the courage to say something.

          

“So, Lily. How was your second day of class?” he tried.

“Boring mostly, you?” asked Lily.

“Oh, um. It was alright, I guess. Can you believe the amount of homework we have already?” he replied.

“Yeah. NEWTs are coming up, I guess they’re trying to prepare us,” she said shrugging.

“Mmm,” he replied.

Silence fell around them again. Suddenly, James had an idea.

“Hey, Lily. Want to prank Snape tonight?” he asked excited.

“Damn, I was hoping you’d forget about that,” she said quietly. “Well we can’t exactly do it on our patrol, can we?” she asked. 

“We could always do it after our patrols,” said James, shrugging.

Lily sighed. “Okay, but can we at least do it tomorrow? I’m really tired today,” she said.

“Yeah that’d be okay,” replied James. At least tomorrow he could bring his invisibility cloak and the Marauders’ Map.

“So, are we going to do that rainbow colouring like we planned?” asked Lily, slowly gaining confidence around James.

“Of course, unless you thought of something else?”

“Well, maybe we can add something, like putting slugs into his bed,” said Lily, surprising herself at her cruelty.

James was shocked, “That’s brilliant Lily,” he replied. “Didn’t know you had it in you, Ms. Evans,” he said playfully.

“Well then, Mr. Potter,” said Lily, equally playful, “I guess you don’t know me that well.”

“I guess I don’t,” he replied. “But then again, you don’t know me that well either,” he said.

“No, I guess I don’t,” she said.

“Well, would you be willing to get to know one another, as friends?” he asked, as he stopped walking and stuck out his hand.

Lily stopped as well. She thought for a moment. Could she actually be his friend while liking him at the same time? Well, if that was all she could get, then she would take it.

“Friends,” said Lily, shaking his hand. Their hands seemed to fit perfectly, like two puzzle pieces. They both felt a small jolt course through their fingers and let go hastily. 

James smiled at Lily and they continued walking. “So. We put slugs in his bed while he’s sleeping and colour his robes, underwear and hair rainbow. Anything else?” asked James.

“No, I think that’s it,” replied Lily.

“Alright then, then that’s that,” replied James, satisfied with the plans.

“But, wait, James. How’re we going to get in and out of the Slytherin Common Room without being seen?” asked Lily worriedly.

“Not to worry, my dear. It’s already taken care of,” replied James.

“Oh? How so?” she asked curiously.

“You’ll find out tomorrow, Lily,” he said mysteriously.

Lily rolled her eyes, but let it slide. “Okay, fine,” she said. “So, what was that during breakfast today?” she wondered.

James stopped breathing. She wanted to know why he was acting so nervous? _Play it cool, Potter. Act confused._ “What d’you mean, Lily?”

“You know, Sirius’ bad luck, and the ‘Kelly’ incident, or whatever her name was,” said Lily.

“OH!” said James relieved. “That. Well Sirius has this ‘theory’ that if he wakes up before 8:00 in the morning, then his day will be ruined. The only time he has ever woken up before eight was during the summer at my house. And that day, he had some bad luck with a girl named Kendra in my neighbourhood,” replied James, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Oh. Do you believe his ‘theory’?” asked Lily.

“No, of course not. I think his mind just forces him to believe it because of that one day. All those bad things that happen, he does on his own. It’s just his mind getting him into all these situations because he believes that everything will go wrong that day,” he replied.

“That makes sense. You should try it one day.”

“Try what?”

“Your theory. Wake him up before 8, but tell him that it’s like 8:15 or something. Then for the rest of the day, see if anything happens to him,” said Lily.

“That brilliant. I’ll try it, thanks Lily,” he said happily.

“No problem,” she said smiling at him.

James heart beat a little faster. He loved it when she smiled. He could watch her all day, just smiling. But some would consider that creepy.

“S-so, Lily. Tell me about yourself,” said James.

“Umm, well what do you want to know?” she asked.

“I don’t know, about your parents, or the Muggle world, something about you.”

“Okay, well my parents are great. They are really supportive. They don’t quite understand me or the Wizarding world that much, but they really try. They don’t even know about Voldemort because I’m afraid that they won’t understand,” she said. She had never told anyone about this, not even Marlene and now she was telling James, who had become her friend not 10 minutes before.

“But, Lily. I’m sure if you explained it to them, they would get it,” said James, confused.

“No, see, they are also overprotective. If they find out that I might be in danger, they will want to take me out of the Wizarding world forever. They wouldn’t let me live the life I want,” she said solemnly.

“What? Lily, that doesn’t make sense. I’m sure that they would let you make your choice.”

“I don’t know, I guess if I tell them, it will make it real that this is really happening,” she confessed.

James didn’t know what to say. His parents were in just as much danger as Lily’s because they were well known aurors who were strongly opposed to Voldemort. But at least his parents knew they were in danger.

“Lily, I think that you should at least tell them what’s going on. I mean, I don’t mean to sound negative or anything, but what if Voldemort comes to your house tonight and they don’t have any idea what’s going on? I mean, won’t it be better if they at least knew what was happening?” he said.

Lily closed her eyes and stopped walking. James was right, but she didn’t want to believe it. She was scared that one morning she would wake up and they would be gone. 

James panicked. That was the wrong thing to say. “Oh damn, Lily. That was stupid of me. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that,” he said in a rushed voice.

“No, James. It’s okay. You’re right. I should tell them,” sad Lily, opening her eyes and starting to walk again.

“Are you sure? I was completely out of line, it’s not my place to make suggestions like that,” he said worriedly.

“No, James. You have a right to say what you think, and make suggestions. After all, what are friends for, right?” She smiled at him.

There it was again. Lily’s beautiful smile. “O-oh. R-right. I’m your friend,” said James nodding.

“Good, now let’s talk about something more cheerful,” said Lily.

They checked broom closets and classrooms for anybody that may have been out after hours. After making sure that there was no one there, they continued walking to different floors. 

“So James. I told you about me, tell me about you,” said Lily.

“Okay, well I’m an only child. Sirius, Remus and Peter are practically my brothers though. My parents are well-known aurors and are openly against Voldemort and his cronies. I guess they’re in much danger as your parents are,” he said.

“Wow. I never though about it that way. I was too caught up in my troubles that I never realized that he was targeting pure blooded families as well,” said Lily.

“Don’t worry about it. That could happen to anyone,” he said reassuringly. 

Lily nodded and they heard a voice behind them. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Mudblood and the Mudblood-lover.”

James and Lily turned around to come face to face with Lucius Malfoy. James felt an immense hatred run through his veins at the sight of Malfoy. How dare he call Lily that disgusting name? That bastard.

“10 points from Slytherin for being out of hours, and 5 points for insulting the Head Girl,” said James, trying to keep his anger and hatred in control.

“Well, that’s different. It seems as though the Head Boy has grown up. Or are you too afraid to hex me without your little gang supporting you?”

“Sod off, Malfoy,” said Lily, surprising everyone, including herself.

“Well now. It seems as though the Mudblood has a dirty mouth, don’t you Mudblood?” he asked sneering.

“Don’t call her that Malfoy. I’m warning you,” said James, raising his wand.

“What, Potter? You going to prank me?” he said.

“Get back to your Common Room, Malfoy. Before we go and get Professor Slughorn,” said Lily menacingly, with her wand drawn as well.

“Seeing as it’s your first patrol, I’ll go easy on you. But be careful Mudblood, you never know who’s watching you,” he said smirking at her. He looked her up and down before walking off.

Lily waited until Malfoy was gone and shivered. His warning disturbed her greatly. She leaned against the wall and sat down. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Malfoy had always creeped her out. His blond hair was too blond, and his pale eyes were too pale. She hated the way he looked at her, like she was a damn piece of meat. She shivered again. Not to mention he was on Voldemort’s list of future Death Eaters. 

James sat down next to Lily and looked at her. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Lily sighed, her eyes still closed. “That guy is a major creeper.” 

James laughed lightly. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you. Now come on, let’s get back to the Common Room,” he said as he lifted her up with his muscular arms.

Lily nodded and smiled at him. She felt warm inside. James said that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She knew that he probably didn’t think anything of it, but it meant a lot to her that he would say that. 

They walked to the Gryffindor Common Room in silence. Lily hadn’t said anything since Malfoy left. She felt a bit better now that James had said that he wouldn’t let anything happen, but she couldn’t help but feel that he wouldn’t be there one day to protect her. 

Once inside the Common Room, Lily finally said something. “Hey James, why don’t we prank Malfoy tomorrow while we’re pranking Snape? I mean they probably share a dormitory, seeing as they are in the same year,” said Lily.

“That’s a wonderful idea. So tomorrow, at 1:00, we’ll be pranking Snape and Malfoy. Excellent,” he said beaming. Lily nodded and her heart exploded at his booming smile. It showed all of his pearly white teeth and it crinkled his eyes in the most adorable fashion. There was a slight glimmer in his eyes that could be seen behind his glasses. She almost sighed out loud, but stopped herself at the last second. 

“Well then. Goodnight, James,” said Lily, walking towards the stairs.

“Night, Lily, my friend,” said James smiling again.

Lily smiled back and climbed the stairs. 

Once upstairs, standing in front of the door leading to her dorm, she sighed and smiled. That night was perfect, right up until Malfoy showed up. _Why did he have to ruin everything?_

She opened the door to her dorm to find Marlene, Nicole and Melissa sitting on their beds waiting for Lily to come it. Lily sighed again, but this time because of tiredness. It was explaining time. 

“Hello, Lily. How was your patrol?” asked Marlene with a wry smile.

“It was wonderful, up until the end,” said Lily.

“Why because you didn’t want it to end? Or was it because he didn’t kiss you?” asked Marlene laughing. Nicole and Melissa were laughing lightly.

Lily blushed and glared at Marlene. “Neither. It was because Malfoy showed up and ruined my whole evening,” said Lily.

 “Oh, Hun. Sorry, I didn’t know,” said Marlene.

“It’s alright. So what are you still doing up?”

“We wanted to confirm the story with you of course,” replied Melissa.

“It’s all true,” said Lily, “Unless Marlene told you something that is completely far-fetched, then it’s not.”

“Oh, good. So then you _don’t_ like James Potter,” said Nicole, letting go a breath.

“Erm, actually that part is true,” Lily replied, blushing and sitting on her bed.

“WHAT?! I thought you hated him!” said Nicole.

“Didn’t Marly tell you about everything?” she asked, turning to Marlene.

“Of course I did. These nitwits here, are choosing not to believe it,” said Marlene, rolling her eyes. “They said they wanted to here it confirmed by you.”

“Okay, listen,” said Lily. “It’s all true. I never hated James, and I have a crush on him.” 

Nicole and Melissa didn’t speak. Then, all of a sudden, they leapt up and gave Lily a bone-crushing hug. 

“AWW LILY! WE’RE SO HAPPY FOR YOU! YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER!” said Melissa.

“Wait a second,” said Lily, releasing herself from their grasp. “We’re not dating,” she said.

“Of course. We know that. But it won’t be long now. I mean, James has only liked you since he first set his eyes on you,” replied Nicole.

“Yeah, hopefully,” said Lily quietly.

“So tell us all about your patrol,” said Marlene.

Lily quickly told the girls the events of that night and repeated the events of the Kitchens the night before. All the girls ‘aww’-ed when Lily told them what James had told her after Malfoy had gone. Then she told them what was going to happen tomorrow night.

“So, tomorrow night, after patrols, James and I are going to prank Snape and Malfoy,” she said proudly.

Marlene approved of this and nodded her head. Nicole and Melissa were still slightly shocked at the new Lily and nodded along as well. 

“Great, so that’s settled. Don’t wait up for me tomorrow night, cause I don’t know how long I’ll be,” she said sheepishly. 

Marlene grinned at her and crawled into her bed. “Alright. Goodnight, girls. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Lily nodded and got into her own bed. “Me too, night,”

…………………………

          James made his way up the stairs once Lily was out of sight. He was smiling all the way up to his dorm. He didn’t think that anything could ruin his good mood. James walked into his dormitory. The rest of the Marauders were fast asleep. Peter and Sirius were snoring loudly and Remus was sleeping peacefully. 

Now that they were friends, James looked forward to seeing Lily again. He still loved her, maybe even more than a couple hours earlier. He wanted to use every chance he got to get to know her better. 

He didn’t think he’d be as nervous anymore for tomorrow night’s patrols, or talking to Lily. He could do it now that they were friends.

The only thing that went wrong that night was the Malfoy incident. _Stupid git, had to go and ruin everything._ He thought about what he had said to Lily shortly after he left. Lily probably didn’t think anything about it, but he was going to keep his word. He would do anything just to make sure that she would not be in danger. He would always be there for her. After all, what are friends for? 


	8. Thank God It's Friday

**Chapter 8: Thank God It’s Friday**

          Lily finally got a good night sleep. She woke up slightly later that usual and was in an amazingly good mood. Today was her official first day as James Potter’s friend. She smiled to herself. She liked this feeling. It was so wonderful. How could one boy make her so happy?

          

She woke up Marlene before going to the bathroom to take a shower. Today she was going to sit next to James at breakfast. She wanted to get to know him more, to really become his friend. Someone he can trust and come to when he needs to talk to someone. Someone that he relies on. Lily knew that James already had the Marauders for that, but she wanted to be one of those people as well. She knew that James would always be there for her, even when they had just become friends. That was just the kind of person James was. 

…………………………

          James woke up early today like yesterday, although today it was for a better reason. He was eager to see Lily again. He just loved being around her, just seeing her smile was enough to brighten any day. God, he was hooked.

          

He hastily got changed and checked the time. 7:54. He would let Sirius sleep in a little, his experiment would have to wait for another day. James decided though, that Remus and Peter did not have such a curse upon them and woke them up.

James had yet to say a word about his patrols because he was waiting for Sirius to get his lazy arse out of bed. Once Sirius was up, he retold them what had happened. Sirius was enraged at Malfoy; he probably hated him even more because he was a friend of Regulus, Sirius’ younger brother. He begged James to bring him along to prank Malfoy, but James would not allow it. It was something he and Lily had to do together. 

The four boys made their way downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. It seemed that the girls were not yet down there. They sat down at there normal spots and waited for the girls to join them. 

The girls finally walked into the Great Hall and James was again lost in Lily Land. Today, she looked as perfect as ever. Her hair was lightly flowing away from her face, and she was laughing. Her laughter was like a tinkle of small, perfect bells; it was the most beautiful sound to James’ ears. If James thought that talking to and seeing Lily would get easier, he was terribly wrong. Maybe someday, but today was NOT the day. 

The four girls made their way towards the Marauders as usual, James watching them as they took each step. James wanted desperately for Lily to come and sit next to him, he wanted to talk to her so badly. 

As if reading his mind, Lily walked up to them and sat down right beside James.

“Morning James, Remus, Sirius, Peter,” she said smiling.

“Well, aren’t we in a good mood this morning,” said Sirius, raising an eyebrow. 

Lily smiled again and replied, “Looking forward to tonight, when I can get Malfoy for being that nasty creep that he is.”

Sirius was certainly not expecting this and raised both eyebrows. “Wow, Lily Evans wants to humiliate someone who isn’t James Potter. I never though I’d see the day…” said Sirius, trailing off.

“Shut it, Sirius,” said Lily laughing. “Sorry, James, if I ever did humiliate you,” she said shyly.

“Uhh…Oh. No problem. Don’t worry about it,” he said smiling.

Lily smiled back. Wow. She really was in a good mood. 

Remus, Marlene and Sirius all looked at each other. They didn’t smirk knowingly, or wink secretly. Their plan was working, although it wasn’t them who were doing the work. It was all Lily. They were surprised that Lily had such a playful attitude and that their plan was going so well without their help.

“So,” said Remus. “We hear that there is a new friendship amongst our little group,” said Remus, mimicking Sirius and raising an eyebrow.

“Yeeuup. Me and James are now officially friends,” said Lily. “Right, James?”

James nodded, “Of course,”

The Gryffindor table turned quiet. All those around the seventh years were looking at them in total shock. Soon, the rest of the Gryffindors fell silent, attempting to find out what was going on around the Marauders. 

Noticing the silence around them, Marlene turned to look at the on-lookers. “What? Don’t you people have better things to do than to stare?” The younger years shook their heads, obviously trying to figure out what had just happened. “Well then, FIND BETTER THINGS TO DO,” finished Marlene annoyingly.

Lily shrugged it off. “Who cares if they find out? Knowing Hogwarts, everyone will know by the end of breakfast anyways. After all, all we said was that we were friends, it’s not like we’re getting married or anything,” she looked at her friends’ faces. “Right?”

They all looked at each other. It was true what Lily said, but they knew that Hogwarts was also a very fast rumour spreader and by the end of the day, there would be at least 20 different versions of what had happened the day before to make them friends, and at least 20 different interpretations of Lily and James’ new relationship.  

…………………………

          After dinner, Lily was really regretting announcing her friendship with James. Many people were approaching her with questions concerning her and James. About all of the question were false and were just so absurd and Lily was getting extremely annoyed. She was approached mostly by James’ fan club, or from obnoxious boys that found Lily attractive.

          “So is it true that you’re dating James?” asked a fake-blond Hufflepuff. “Did he really have to buy you a mansion for you to go out with him?” 

          

“So did he really propose? Was it really romantic?”

“Are you actually his long lost sister?”

“So you finally took pity on him and accepted one date, huh?”

“Did Potter really get you pregnant? Is that why you’re marrying him?” asked a tall, brunette boy. “Because I’d still date you even if you were pregnant,” he finished, flashing a smile.

Lily punched the boy in the nose and stalked off. She was beyond angry now. All she did was say that they were friends! How did people interpret that into ‘Lily’s pregnant, so she’s marrying Potter’? _REALLY! How dare he come and ask me that? THAT BLOODY GIT!_ She was so busy fuming that she didn’t notice someone running after her, calling her name.

…………………………

          James walked around the corner when he saw Lily sock a guy in the nose and run off. He could see from the anger reflecting in her eyes that she was really pissed. _Oh no._ said James to himself. He left Remus and started running after Lily. _God, can that girl walk fast_ , he said in his mind, making a mental note. And after the way she left like guy, blood pouring out of his nose, James was glad that he never made her THAT angry.

          

“LILY!” shouted an out of breathe James. “STOP WALKING!” 

He caught her shoulder and bent over to catch his breath. “God, Woman. You sure can walk fast,” he said, still slightly out of breathe. “And you can also cause severe damage to a man’s nose,” he said smiling wryly at Lily.

Lily blushed and replied, “He was asking ridiculous questions and being extremely obnoxious.”

“Wait, wasn’t I an obnoxious boy who asked ridiculous questions?” he said, teasing Lily.

She blushed and sighed, “James, I told you. I never hated you,” she said looking away.

There were those four words again. ‘I never hated you.’ God, he wished he knew what that meant. 

“What does that mean?” asked James.

“Nothing, never mind,” she replied hastily. “Have you been getting questioned about all this also?” she asked, changing the subject quickly.

“No, but I’ve been getting strange looks from girls. Even guys. But I haven’t really noticed. Sirius told me,” he said shrugging. He started walking and Lily followed.

“How have you not noticed? Girls have been glaring at me for the whole day, and some coming to ask me questions about our friendship. And then the guys! They are really ridiculous! They have the wildest imaginations! REALLY!” said Lily, becoming angry again just thinking about the guy she had punched.

“Whoa. Whoa there Lily,” he said grabbing her shoulders. He didn’t know where this sudden confidence came from. Here he was, with his new friend that he has loved for 6 years, grabbing her by the shoulders and asking her what the matter was. “What did he say?”

“Ugh. How dare he think that? That stupid obnoxious little pig! What is the matter with that boy—” 

“Lily,” James interrupted. “Tell me what he said.”

“Well, it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Tell me.”

“He thought I was pregnant and was forced into marrying you. And I couldn’t take all the questions! I mean someone asked me if I was your sister! And another asked-” 

“Lily, stop.” James interrupted again. He found her absolutely irresistible when she rambled on like this. She was flustered, her cheeks were tinged with a bit of pink and her hair was slightly messy as she was shaking her head around while she talked. His heart thumped. 

“You can’t listen to these people. You can’t let them bother you. They’re just jealous that I’m your friend and they aren’t. Lily, look at me,” he said. He paused until Lily looked into his eyes. He felt momentarily breathless. He hadn’t actually gazed into her eyes before. He usually just glanced into them or seen them from afar. He was so close to her; he could see the small flecks of dark green circling her pupil and the small flecks of yellow encircling the outside. Lily’s eyes were truly beautiful.

“Promise me that you won’t let them bother you. As long as our friends, you and I know the truth, then nothing else matters, okay?” he asked after finally getting his breath back. 

Lily nodded. She wasn’t capable of speech. James large hands were still on her shoulders and they were very comforting. She could see her reflection in James glasses, but if she looked past that, she could see his wonderful eyes. They were just so warm and soft. They were like pools of honey and she wanted to just drown in them. 

“Good,” replied James, taking his hands reluctantly off her shoulders. She felt the warmth leave her body and desperately wanted to wrap her arms around him and stay like that forever, but she held herself back. _We’re just friends for right now,_ she reminded herself. 

“Come on, let’s walk back to the Common Room,” he said. Again, she nodded. 

“So where were you before I caught up with you?” asked James as they walked together.

“I was in the Library finishing up homework before tonight’s patrols,” she said. “You?”

“Well I was with Remus, walking towards the Library to do some homework,” he said smiling.

“Oh, I’m sorry James. You can go back if you like, I can find my way back to the Common Room you know,” she said, smirking.

“Nah, I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about the innocent boys that will have their noses broken by a fiery red-head,” he said teasingly.

Lily rolled her eyes and hit his arm playfully. “Careful, Potter. I might decide that you might need a little bit of roughening up,” she said with a smirk, rubbing her knuckles. 

James eyes widened, obviously afraid of what Lily could do to him. “You wouldn’t dare. After all, I am now _officially_ your friend,” he said somewhat scared.

Lily laughed and shook her head. “Don’t worry, James. I want you in tip-top shape for tonight’s patrols,” she said winking. 

James smiled and they continued walking. “So we’re actually going to do this then?” he asked, surprised that Lily hadn’t backed out.

“Of course. Unless you’re quitting on me, James?” she said raising an eyebrow.

“No, I was merely asking the question for your sake,” he said, smirking. “I thought you would have backed out by now,” he said truthfully.

“Again, Mr. Potter. You still do not know me very well,” Lily said.

“Well you can’t blame me, it’s only the third day of classes,” said James.

“I guess I’ll let it slide, but I’m getting sick of this ‘Underestimating of Lily Evans’ thing that’s going on,” she said teasingly.

James laughed lightly, “Better get used to it Lily, because you will never fail to surprise me,” he said quietly. 

Lily looked up at him, confused. _What is that supposed to mean? I will never fail to surprise him?_ “Is that a good thing?” she asked quietly.

James laughed again but didn’t answer. They reached the Fat Lady and James stopped. 

“I’m afraid this is where I leave you,” he said. “I must get back to my homework if we are going to do the… _prank tonight,_ ” he finished in a whisper. “See you at eleven, Lily!” And with that, James left.

Lily stared after him until he was no longer visible and the Fat Lady interrupted her thoughts. 

“ _Ahem._ Password?” 

“ _Devil’s snare_ ,” she replied. 

She walked into the Common Room, ignoring all the stares and whispers directed at her like she promised James and walked up to her dormitory. 

She lay down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. _I will never fail to surprise him? Is that supposed to be a good thing? Why didn’t he answer the question? Ugh. That boy will be the death of me,_ she said to herself, but she couldn’t help but smile. She turned on her side. She was going to prank Snape and Malfoy tonight, with _James_. She was excited.

…………………………

          James walked back towards the Library, braking into a run after Lily could no longer see him. He though about that whole situation, how close he was to her, how he could see every single freckle on her beautiful face, how he could smell her naturally alluring scent, how she teased him and just how good it felt to be with her. He stopped in front of the Library and turned around. He couldn’t concentrate on homework now. He found himself walking towards the tapestry on the seventh floor that held the Room of Requirement. 

          

James walked back and forth in front of the tapestry just thinking about somewhere where he could think.

After walking past 3 times, a door appeared. James walked in and found just a room with a bed. It was perfect, no distractions.

James put his school bag by the door and lay down on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, just thinking about Lily. He loved the way she would scratch her nose when she was thinking. He loved the way she would twirl her hair in her fingers when she was bored. He loved her eyes. Oh God, her eyes. He could probably spend his whole life looking into her eyes and he would always be happy. He loved the way they would light up when she got the right answer to a question. He loved how they would sparkle when she was happy. He loved how her eyes displayed so much emotion, even when he face told differently; you would always know that her eyes showed her real emotions. He loved the sound of her perfect laugh and how it would echo in his ears. He loved the way she would blush when she was embarrassed or even when she was angry. He loved how she was never predictable and would keep James on his feet. James Potter loved Lily Evans so much and she didn’t even know it. 

…………………………

          James left the Room of Requirement and headed for his dorm at about 9:00. He had to get back before curfew and fetch the invisibility cloak and the Marauders’ Map. He had spent the last couple hours just reflecting on Lily, how much he loved Lily and his new friendship with Lily. He wanted Lily and him to be more than just friends but he knew that Lily was probably not ready for it, and rejection this time would send James into a permanently depressed state.

          

James entered his dorm to find Remus, Sirius and Peter sitting on their beds. 

“Hey, where have you been Prongs?” asked Remus.

“I was in the Room of Requirement,” he replied.

“Oh. What happened earlier with Lily?” Remus asked.

“I walked her back to the Common Room and then went to the Room of Requirement,” he said looking through his trunk.

“Prongs, what’s the matter with you?” asked Sirius.

No answer.

“Prongs?” asked Peter.

Still no answer.

“James?”

James stopped searching through his trunk and sat on his bed. He stared at his three friends who were looking concernedly at him.

“I’m in love with Lily.”

No answer.

“I’m in love with Lily,” he repeated.

Still no answer.

“I’m in love—” started James.

“We heard you the first time, James,” said Remus staring at his friend.

James nodded and went back to searching in his trunk.

Remus, Sirius and Peter looked at each other. Sure, they always knew deep down that James loved Lily, but he had never said it out loud and confirmed it for them. Now, they weren’t sure what to say.

“So, er, Prongs. What’re you going to do about it, mate?” asked Sirius.

“Nothing, for now. Lily only thinks of us as friends, so that’s how it’s going to stay until she wants it to move on,” said James. “Ah ha. I found it,” he said, pulling out his invisibility cloak. “Which one of you has the Marauders’ Map?” he asked.

“I do,” replied Remus, searching through his trunk for their prized possession.

“And you’re okay with that, Prongs?” asked Peter.

“Of course I’m not, Pete. But what else can I do but wait?” he said shrugging his shoulders.

Sirius nodded although he never understood James obsession with Lily. How could a seventeen year old guy already know who ‘The One’ was? 

James smiled. “Don’t worry about it, mates. It’ll work out in the end. Stop looking as though someone died. Just look forward to tomorrow morning when Snape and Malfoy have rainbowed-coloured clothes and hair,” he said cheerfully.

Peter shrugged, smiling at the image of Snape and Malfoy’s faces when they walked into the Great Hall. Remus passed James the Map and patted him on the shoulder before returning to his book. Sirius just stared at James.

“You really do love her, don’t you James?” he asked his best friend.

“Of course I do, Sirius. This is the girl I’m going to marry. I know it,” replied James, looking Sirius in the eye.

Sirius nodded, satisfied with his answer and smiled. “Good for you, Prongs. Good for you,” he said.

“Thanks, Padfoot.”

James quickly took a shower and waited until he would be able to see his beloved Lily again.

…………………………

          Lily woke up from her nap at 10:30. She had only half an hour to get ready for her patrol that night. She quickly combed her knotted hair and put it in a messy ponytail. She reapplied her make-up and said goodbye to Marlene before heading downstairs. She could barely contain her excitement. This was her first prank and it was with James.

          

James wasn’t downstairs yet when she arrived, so she sat down in an armchair and she watched the fire slowly die out. 

The Marauders came downstairs fifteen minutes before eleven and made their way towards Lily. When she noticed them walking in her direction, she smiled brightly and waved. 

“Excited for your first prank, Lily?” asked Sirius smirking.

Lily nodded and answered, “I can’t wait.”

“Well then, we’d better get moving,” said James. 

She stood up, said goodbye to the three boys and followed James out the portrait door. 

…………………………

James had gotten over his solemn mood earlier and cheered up for his patrol with Lily. He wouldn’t let his negative thoughts take over his mind. All he had to think about was the bright side; he got to spend time with Lily and prank Snape and Malfoy. 

That night, Lily had tied her hair back into a messy ponytail, but she still looked stunning. She didn’t know that with everything she did, she was torturing James. It was almost as if she was flaunting herself in front of him, reminding him that she was not his. 

“So, all ready for tonight then? I see you’ve tied your hair back for all the hard work ahead of us,” he said.

Lily laughed. “Actually, it was just too messy to leave down, so I tied it up. But I guess your reason works too,” she said, laughing again. “OH! And I thought of another thing we could do,” she said smiling.

“Really? And what evil plans have you thought of this time?” he asked, returning the smile.

“Well, we could transfigure their knickers into thongs! They’re bloody uncomfortable, those things. And we could put some sort of charm on them so they can’t transfigure them back!” she said triumphantly.

James laughed. “My, my, Lily. That is truly a cruel plan you have thought up, but it is brilliant,” he said.

Lily smiled fondly. “Isn’t it? I thought about it all by myself,” she said. 

James laughed again. “I’m so proud,” he said, mock wiping a tear from his eye.

Lily laughed and her heart pumped a bit faster. She loved making James laugh. It was such a wonderful, soothing sound. It was a deep, masculine laugh and it made her legs go all wobbly. She would never be able to get used to that sound, and she loved it. 

Lily felt as though she could talk to James without totally freaking out or hyperventilating. She wasn’t completely over her nerves, but now they were a bit more manageable. It was amazing what a couple of conversations with James could do to her. 

“Doesn’t seem like the first week of school, does it?” she asked.

“Nope. It went by pretty slowly. It seems like we’ve been here for ages,” he replied.

“I’m glad that it’s going slowly,” she said. “It means more time in this marvellous castle. It’s my real home, I don’t want to leave this year,” she said sadly.

“I know how you feel, but don’t worry. It’ll be fine,” replied James. It was partly true; he did feel that Hogwarts was his home, but he wasn’t sure that it would be alright.

Lily smiled at him and James’ knees almost gave way. He gained control of his legs and kept walking. 

The patrols went by quickly as they checked closets and classrooms and soon, it was 1:00.

“So, James. You never told me how we were going to do this without being seen,” she said, worried that he didn’t have a plan.

James smiled but didn’t say anything and pulled something out of his robe pocket. Lily gasped at what was in James’ hands.

“Is that and invisibility cloak?” she whispered.

James nodded and smiled. He pulled the cloak over his shoulders so only his head was visible. Lily gasped again and brought her hand to her mouth. “Amazing,” she whispered. 

James smiled at Lily’s awe-struck face. “Come on, we both need to get under here so we’re not seen.” 

Lily stepped closer to him and went under the cloak. She could feel the warmth that James’ body was giving off for being so close to him. She could smell his boyish scent mixed with the smell of fire and the outdoors. She breathed in deeply; James was one of her favourite scents.

Once they were both under the cloak, James pulled out a wrinkled piece of parchment and whispered in Lily’s ear, “Watch this.” Lily shivered. His breath on her skin made goose bumps run all along her arms. It sent tingles down her spine as she watched James mumble some words while pointing his wand to the parchment. Immediately after the words left James’ mouth, thin, spider-web like lines appeared and Lily gasped. The lines were forming a map on the wrinkled piece of parchment. She looked closer and she could see two dots labelled ‘L. Evans’ and ‘J. Potter’ located right where they were standing. She could see dots labelled ‘Filch’, ‘M. McGonagall’ and ‘A. Dumbledore’ in other parts of the castle. 

Lily turned to look at James. He was smiling fondly at the map and looked at her. “Did you make this?” she whispered.

“It wasn’t just me; Remus, Sirius and Peter did a lot of it,” he said modestly. 

“This is amazing,” she said, looking back down at the map.

“Like I said before, us Marauders know this school almost as well as Dumbledore,” he said proudly.

Lily smirked and asked, “So, this is how you boys get away with all those pranks? You know where everyone is, so you just avoid them,” she said, comprehension dawning on her face.

James smiled and nodded. “And it shows secret passage-ways so we can easily avoid anyone if we don’t have the invisibility cloak with us,” he said shrugging. “It’s dead useful. But Lily, you have to make sure you don’t tell anyone about this. Not Marlene, Nicole, Melissa, anyone. Okay? You’re the only one besides the Marauders who know about this.”

“Of course, James. You have my word. You have no reason not to trust me,” she said smiling. “Now, let’s get to the Slytherin Common Room.” 

James nodded and checked the map. “There’s no one blocking our way so we should get there without incident,” he said. He mumbled a couple more words and the lines of the map instantly erased. He put the map safely in his pocket and they walked towards the Slytherin Common Room.

They tiptoed quietly, and just as James said, arrived without incident. James quickly said the password to the entrance and they walked inside.

The Slytherin Common Room was freezing. It didn’t have that warm, welcome feeling the Gryffindor Common Room had; they didn’t have squashy armchairs, or bright, comforting colours. It was bland with silver and green walls and stiff chairs around the fireplace. James and Lily walked up the Boys dormitory staircase quietly, careful not to make any noise. 

They found the seventh year boys dorm and looked at each other. They nodded and quietly opened the door. Lily went in first and James followed. Snape was sleeping on the bed closest to them. They looked around to find Evan Rosier, Rodolphus Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov and finally Lucius Malfoy. Luckily for Lily and James, all five of the boys were sound asleep. 

James motioned for Lily to stay underneath the cloak just in case one of the boys awoke. They made their way to Snape’s trunk and opened it. James put a spell on all his knickers making them transfigure into thongs once he entered the Great Hall. Next, they placed a spell on them and his robes so they would turn rainbow-coloured once he was in plain view of everyone. Finally, they made their way to his bed. James looked at Snape’s greasy hair and grimaced. It was truly a disgusting sight. Lily mumbled the same colour changing spell onto his hair. This spell was made to last at least 2 days, if washed regularly. Sticking his wand under Snape’s covers, James muttered the spell which shot slugs out of the tip. They heard a nasty _squelch_ noise and looked to see if Snape had woken up. They held their breath as Snape turned his head slightly to the left. To their relief, he didn’t wake up. 

They made their way to Malfoy’s trunk and repeated the procedure. Finally when they were done, Lily and James quietly made their way down the stairs. They exited the Slytherin Common Room and James checked the map. There was, again, no one around. They walked quietly back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Lily was giggling occasionally from all the excitement.

Once inside, Lily burst out laughing. She felt giddy from the excitement of their prank but mostly because she was so close to James for such a long period of time. She loved how their hands would brush slightly as they did the prank and how his breath would tickle her skin as he mumbled spells. Having James with her for that long, made her heart want to explode, but it came out in laughter instead. 

James was laughing purely because Lily was laughing. He was happy that she had so much fun with him and that she actually enjoyed it. He laughed quietly just so he could hear her beautiful laughter fill his ears. He was leaning against the wall as he watched Lily laughing. He could see her sparkling eyes in the darkness and her white teeth. He wanted to kiss her right there, but he knew that Lily would probably not agree to it. He looked away in order to try and get his hormones in control. He breathed deeply and Lily slowly stopped laughing. _No. No, please. Don’t stop,_ he thought sadly. 

Lily wiped her eyes of tears of laughter and noticed James’ silence, “Hey James, what’s the matter?” she asked.

James smiled brightly to cover up for his lack of excitement, “Nothing, why?”

“You just seem a bit out of it,” replied Lily, placing an arm on his forearm.

James felt a shock go through him, making him wide awake. “Just tired, is all,” he said, lying.

“I guess you’re right. What time is it anyways?” she asked taking her hand from her arm.

“Probably around two in the morning. We should get to bed. After all, if we want to see Malfoy and Snape walk into the Great Hall tomorrow, then we should get up early,” he said. 

Lily nodded and made her way to the Girls stairs. “Alright then. Goodnight James! I had fun tonight,” she smiled brightly and walked up the stairs.

“Goodnight Lily,” he replied. Once she was gone, James sat down on armchair. There was no way he would be able to sleep now. He sighed. _Damnit. That girl has no idea what she does to me. I can’t keep living like this._ He sighed once again and slowly made his way upstairs. 

…………………………

          The next morning, one Lucius Malfoy awoke early. He rubbed his eyes and made his way to get up. In the process, he felt something wet inside his pants. He froze. This was not happening. How embarrassing! What would his dorm mates think if they found out that Lucius Malfoy, the most powerful boy in Slytherin, has wet his bed! He hastily checked under the covers and couldn’t believe what he saw. There were hundreds of brown, slime covered _slugs_ in his bed! 

          

“ARRRRRGHHHHHHHH!” 

The four remaining boys in the dormitory woke with a start. Rosier, Lestrange and Dolohov fell out of bed. Snape was the only one who managed to stay in bed. They all looked at Lucius scared, all wondering what could cause their fearless companion to scream.

“There are slugs in my bed! HURRY! GET THEM OUT!” he roared.

The three boys didn’t know what to do. Slugs? What was Lucius Malfoy doing with slugs in his bed? They hastily looked at each other but didn’t move. Malfoy growled in frustration. 

“Severus! Get out of bed and help me get rid of these slugs!” he screamed.

Snape didn’t move.

“SEVERUS! WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ALL OF YOU?”

“I’m afraid Lucius, I am in the same situation as you!” said Snape finally finding his voice. 

“WHAT?”

“What I’m trying to say Lucius, is that you’re not the only one with slugs in their bed!” he replied, screaming.

“Well, what are you three doing?! Help us get rid of them!” Lucius roared. 

This time the three boys complied. They grabbed their wands and ran over to their dorm mates. Lestrange and Rosier moved towards Lucius while Dolohov was forced to help Snape. They quickly got rid of all the slugs, but couldn’t quite remove the slime. Snape ran to the bathroom before Malfoy had a chance to get up of his bed. Malfoy roared in frustration. This morning was definitely not a good morning. _Oh, were they in for it._

…………………………

          Lily raced down the stairs with Marlene, Nicole and Melissa close at her heels. She almost ran into James in her quick haste to get down there. 

          

“Morning James!” she chirped, blushing that she’d almost bumped into him.

“Morning Lily,” said James smiling at her flushed face.

“Finally! Why do girls take so long to get ready anyways?!” said an impatient Sirius.

“Come on, we’d better get down there if we want to see Malfoy and Snape enter the Great Hall,” said James checking his watch.

Lily and James practically ran to the Great Hall, the rest of the Marauders and the girls barely able to keep up with them. Lily and James entered the Great Hall and were relieved to see that Malfoy and Snape were not there yet. They sat down at the Gryffindor table, making sure they had a perfect view of the entrance. Their friends arrived shortly after, out of breath and panting. 

Lily and James waited impatiently, refusing to eat any food until they saw either Snape or Malfoy. 

Finally, after a while, Snape entered the Great Hall. Everyone except Lily and James wondered what the huge prank was. Snape looked completely normal.

“Lily,” started Marlene, “What’s the big deal? Snape looks—”

“SHH! Just watch,” replied Lily, eyes still on Snape.

Then all of a sudden, Snape stopped walking. He looked at though something was had wedged itself in his arse. Oops. There _actually_ was something wedged up his arse. 

At the look on Snape’s face, James and Lily burst out laughing. They were the only ones, besides Snape of course, who knew why Snape was in so much discomfort. They were leaning on each other for support; they were laughing that hard. They rest of the Great Hall didn’t notice anything unusual and continued eating. It wasn’t until someone shouted that Lily and James stopped laughing.

“Hey! Look at Snape! He’s turned into a walking rainbow!” said a Ravenclaw boy in sixth year. 

As he finished saying this, all eyes turned to look at Snape. Indeed, what the Ravenclaw boy had said was true. Snape did look like a walking rainbow. His hair and robes were now bright colours. They only things that were not a bright colour were his eyes, which were narrowing slits of black. His face was now slightly tingeing pink. The whole Great Hall burst into laughter. Remus was wiping tears from his eyes and Sirius was practically rolling on the floor laughing. Peter was hitting the table as he laughed and was sending bits of food everywhere. 

As the Great Hall started to calm down and Snape had left the Great Hall, Lucius Malfoy entered with his gang. Everyone turned to look at him. 

Malfoy stopped walking and shouted, “What are you all looking at?!” After those words left his mouth, he got the same look Snape did as his knickers transfigured into thongs. He flushed crimson and went to walk out the door. Lily and James were way past the laughing stage; now their mouths were open, but they were no longer capable of making any noise. There were tears of laughter falling slowly down their faces and Lily had her hand on James’ shoulder keeping her upright. As Malfoy walked uncomfortably to the door of the Great Hall, his blond hair and black robes instantly turned the same colours as Snape. He stopped walking and looked down at his robes. He picked up his long locks of white blond hair and opened his mouth in horror. 

“POTTER! THIS WAS YOUR DOING!” he roared in rage. 

James stopped laughing as Professor McGonagall was approaching them. She had a stern, disapproving look on her face and James gulped. 

“Potter! I thought you would have learned your lesson by now! You are supposed to be setting an example for your peers! Not playing pranks on them!” she said, her lips forming a thin line. 

Lily immediately felt guilty. James was getting in trouble for something that she was a part of. Knowing James, he probably wouldn’t rat her out either. She had to do something.

She coughed. “Uh, Professor McGonagall?” she asked.

“Yes, Miss Evans. What is it?” she asked sternly. 

James was shaking his head at Lily with his eyes wide, he was telling her to let him take the blame. She ignored him and continued. “Well, it’s that James didn’t do it all by himself. I helped.” 

McGonagall looked positively shocked. The Marauders and Lily’s friends were looking at her wide eyed. Lily had just defended James and admitted to doing a prank. James was hitting his head with his hand.

“Pardon me, Miss Evans? Are you admitting to helping Mr. Potter with this prank?” she asked shockingly.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well Miss Evans. I am very disappointed in you both. The two Heads playing pranks on their peers? I am very disappointed. Ten points from Gryffindor you Miss Evans and 20 points from Mr. Potter. Also, detention Sunday evening with me.” And with that, she left. 

Lily turned back towards the table and found all seven eyes on her.

“What?” she asked.

“Lily, I told you to let me take the blame! You wouldn’t have gotten a detention or lost points!” said James exasperated.

“James, I was not going to let you take the blame all by yourself, I mean, I did help! And I have a clean slate! You would have gotten in much more trouble with you’re reputation! Plus, she probably wouldn’t have believe that you did it all by yourself, she would have punished Sirius, Remus or Peter as well! I couldn’t let her do that! And the points I’ll just win back today in class,” she said, satisfied with herself.

Obvious that he wasn’t going to win this argument, James sighed. “Fine. But you’re going to regret it once detention comes,” he said quietly. 

“Don’t worry about it, mate,” said Sirius. “I have detention with McGonagall that night too from Tuesday.”

James nodded and ate the rest of his breakfast. He sighed. What a perfect way to start a Friday morning. 


	9. Fights

**Chapter 9: Fights**

          Today was their last patrol of the week. Tomorrow, they would have a prefect meeting organising times for patrols and their time together will be cut short. Needless to say, James was going to miss patrolling with Lily.

          

It’s not like they weren’t going to patrol anymore, they were, just not as much. James worried that after that night’s patrols, that his and Lily’s friendship would falter a bit and they would never be that close. He and Lily had only been friends for two days now, but it seemed like so much longer and James didn’t want it to end.

Their patrol started off just like the two patrols previous to this one. James and Lily met up in the Common Room and they walked together, both trying to get a hold of their jitters. Then, they would talk contently and enjoy each other’s company. That night, though, they ran into a bit of trouble.

“Potter, Mudblood,” snarled an angry voice from behind him.

Lily and James drew their wands and turned to face Lucius Malfoy. He was standing there, rainbow hair, robes, thong and all, but also with a few of his mates. Amongst them were Bellatrix Black, Rodolphus Lestrage, Evan Rosier, Antonin Dolohov and Severus Snape.

“Well, if it isn’t dear Lucius and his buds. Out after hours again, aren’t we Malfoy?” said James. “I must say, those really aren’t your colours,” he added.

“Shut it, Potter. I know you and your little Mudblood bride did this to me,” he snapped.

“Hey, watch your mouth, Malfoy. Wouldn’t want to get a little soap in the mouth, now would we?” he taunted. 

“Potter, I’m going to get you back so bad, you will regret the day that your mother ever gave birth to such filthy scum like you,” he said spitting on the floor. “As for you, Mudblood. You will meet your end soon enough, just you wait. The Dark Lord will gain power and all Mudbloods like you will be gone,” he said laughing.

“Leave her out of this, Malfoy,” said James, stepping in front of Lily protectively.

This time, Bellatrix spoke up. “Oh, isn’t this cute. Wittle Potty defending his wittle Mudblood,” she mocked. They all laughed.

Now it was Lily’s turn. She stepped out from behind James. “Well, what about you, _Bellatrix_? Need to travel in packs to make you feel safe?” she taunted.

James panicked. _What is she doing? Bellatrix can seriously hurt her! What the BLOODY hell is she doing?!_

Bellatrix was outraged. “How dare you challenge to me, you filthy Mudblood?! You have no right, no right! I’ll prove to you who is the better witch! You Mudbloods have no place here!”

“Very well then. Let’s duel, shall we? No outside help,” she said confidently.

“No, Lily! I will not stand by this. Slytherins, up to your dormitories, NOW!” James shouted.

“Ah, ah, ah, Potty. Mudblood here challenged me. That means that I must now duel her. We will see who comes out victorious,” she said with a manic glint in her eyes. The rest of the pack were all smiling evilly and laughing slightly. Malfoy was smirking, watching all of this like it was an amusing movie.

“Lily, stop. Come on; let’s go get a teacher or something. Just don’t do this,” he pleaded.

She looked at him. “No, James. I have to do this. I have to prove that I’m just as skilled as she is,” she said determined.

“Lily, you already know you are as skilled as her. No matter what you do, she WILL NOT believe it. Even if you do come out on top, she will just want more vengeance and put you in more danger. I said I’d promise not to let anything happen to you, and by letting you do this, I am breaking my promise. I never break my promises,” he said.

Lily seemed to falter at this. “I’m sorry James, but I have to do this.” Her eyes showed determination but also slight fear. Lily knew Bellatrix was a dangerous witch who knew many dark spells, but she knew that if things did get out of hand, James would put an end to it. And with that thought, she turned to face Bellatrix.

“Let’s do this.”

“Very well, Mudblood. Say goodbye to your lover.”

“Just remember the rules. No outside help.”

They both hardly inclined their heads as they bowed. Bellatrix made the first move and soon there were flashes of lights and shouts of jinxes and hexes that were being thrown by the two witches. Soon Lily and Bellatrix were both exhausted. 

Bellatrix opened her mouth and threw another curse at Lily, “ _Stupefy!_ ” Lily didn’t react as she saw Professor McGonagall walking briskly towards them and she fell to the floor, out cold.

“ENOUGH!” shouted Professor McGonagall. She was walking towards them and looked positively outraged. Her face was slightly pink and her lips were in a _very_ thin line. 

“What is the meaning of this, Mr. Potter? Again, I have been highly disappointed with you and Miss Evans. You are supposed to be setting an example! You are not supposed to be duelling other students during your _patrols_ for Merlin’s sake!” she yelled. She then turned to the Slytherins. “And you! I will have a word about this with Professor Slughorn, this many of you out of bed after hours! And duelling with the Head Boy and Girl, six to two!”

“Fifteen points each from Slytherin, twenty from Ms. Black. Twenty points each from Gryffindor. Really, I expected better from the two of you. Slytherins, I will walk you to your Common Room. Mr. Potter, take Miss Evans to the Hospital Wing. I expect that you will not get into any more trouble tonight?” 

James nodded and made his way over to the unconscious Lily. There was a small amount of blood on her forehead and bruises on her face and arms. She had fast reflexes and was as excellent a dueller as Bellatrix. If Professor McGonagall hadn’t come to stop them, then they would have been duelling for hours. 

James muttered, “ _Locomotor Lily_ ,” and Lily’s slim body was floating several feet off the floor. He carefully made his way to the Hospital Wing and knocked on the door. He waited a while until Madame Pomfrey opened the door wearing her night robes and a night cap.

“What is the meaning of this Potter? Oh my! What happened to Miss Evans?” she asked opening the door to let them in.

“Run in with Slytherins,” he muttered bitterly. He manoeuvred Lily onto the bed and took off the charm. 

“She’s out cold. She was hit with a Stunning spell,” he mumbled. 

“Very well. _Ennervate._ ”

Lily’s eyes fluttered open and she moved her head to James’ direction. “James?” she whispered. “What happened?”

“Bellatrix stunned you as McGonagall came,” he answered.

Lily closed her eyes and sighed.

“Lily, are you okay?” he asked as Madame Pomfrey went to get Lily a potion in another room. 

Lily shook her head. “No. I didn’t win.”

James was shocked. _She’s in the Hospital Wing and she’s worried about not winning?_

“Lily, don’t you think you should be more worried about your health rather than winnng?” he asked.

“No, James. You don’t get it. Since I came to Hogwarts, I’ve had to prove myself and once I get my chance, I go and ruin it.”

“Lily, you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone! Everyone already knows that you are an amazing witch! You don’t need to prove yourself!” said James, confused at Lily.

“No, James! You don’t UNDERSTAND! I have to prove myself to MYSELF! I have to know FOR ME that I am good enough! I have to know that I can beat her and that I deserve to be in this world! I’M TRYING TO PROVE IT TO MYSELF!” she exclaimed, tears slowly pouring down her face. 

James didn’t answer. He was hurt and speechless. He didn’t know that was how Lily felt. 

“Mr. Potter, you may leave now. Miss Evans will have to spend the night,” said Madame Pomfrey, re-entering the room.

James nodded. “I hope you get better soon, Lily,” he whispered. Silent tears were still making their way down her face and she was still staring at James. He quickly and quietly exited the Hospital Wing and walked to Gryffindor tower.

Lying in bed, James thought about what Lily had said. _Did she really have to prove herself to, well, herself, to think she was good enough?_ Lily’s reasons seemed strange to James. Anyone could see, even the Slytherins, that Lily was an extraordinary witch. She was top of almost all the classes, coming second to James only in Transfiguration, she was Prefect fifth and sixth years, and now, she was Head Girl. Surely, all those accomplishments were enough proof for Lily that she was good enough to be in this world? Hell, some pure-blooded witches and wizards weren’t even that good.

Did that mean James and Lily were in a fight now? After all, she did yell. Even if they weren’t in a fight, and Lily wasn’t mad at James, he was going to apologize to Lily anyways. He wasn’t exactly sure if it was his fault; he didn’t actually do anything wrong. But then, why did he feel so horrible? He guessed it was because Lily felt horrible. 

James was also hurt that Lily had yelled at him. She said that he didn’t understand her after he was trying so hard to. He really wanted to understand, but they were in two different situations. As a friend, James was trying to comfort her and see what she was going through, but she had just yelled. 

James hated how Lily had to go through all of this prejudice because of her heritage. His heart ached because Lily felt she had to prove to herself that she was worthy of living in this world. He didn’t know it mattered to her that much. 

He would never know what kind of inner battle Lily was fighting because he never had to or will go through something like that. James was definitely smart, handsome and good at Quidditch; but even if he wasn’t, he’d probably still be accepted because he was pure-blooded and son of Harold and Julie Potter. 

James decided that he would go and apologize to Lily tomorrow before the Prefect meeting. He wouldn’t be able to stand himself knowing that the girl he loved was mad at him. It hurt his heart. He knew that he would never be able to be mad at Lily. He loved her to much. James would do anything for Lily to forgive him. Even if she wasn’t mad, he would still find someway to make it up to her. With that thought, he fell asleep.

…………………………

          Lily woke up the next morning feeling ashamed. She was ashamed of how she acted the night before. She was ashamed that she was stupid enough to challenge Bellatrix to a duel. She was even more ashamed that she had lost. But, she was mostly ashamed of how she treated James. 

          

She knew that James was only trying to help and understand her, but instead she yelled at him and accused him of not understanding her. She knew that she hurt and confused James and she was sorry. It was her fault and she knew it. But she didn’t want to apologize yet. She wasn’t ready to face him yet. She had to get herself together before apologizing. She was embarrassed of herself and facing him so soon would be a bad thing. 

She asked Madame Pomfrey if she could leave, and after taking one more potion, she walked back to Gryffindor tower. 

It was still fairly early on a Saturday morning, so no one was in the Common Room yet. She walked up to her dorm and opened the door. Marlene woke up when Lily entered and sat up on her bed. 

“Hey Lily. What happened last night? Why didn’t you come back to the dorm?” she asked, concerned.

“Hey Marly. Look, I’m really tired, I’ll tell you later, okay? I just want to sleep,” she answered.

Marlene looked curious, but nodded anyways. She knew that Lily would talk when she was ready, so she left it alone. 

Lily changed into her pyjamas and lay down in her bed. She closed the bed hangings and snuggled into her bed sheets. Tears started falling down her cheeks at the memory of last night. She wiped her tears and fell asleep. 

…………………………

          James woke up in the after noon. He was tired from all the patrols that week and from last night. Sirius and Peter were still sleeping but Remus’ bed was empty. He showered and walked down to the Common Room. He saw Marlene sitting by the fire, doing some homework, but no Lily.

          

“Hey Marlene. Where’s Lily?” he asked, sitting down across from her.

“Hey James. She’s sleeping, why?” she asked, looking up from her homework.

“Well I wanted to apologize for last night,” he replied.

Marlene was confused. “Why, what did you do?” she asked furrowing her eyebrows.

“What? She didn’t tell you?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“No. She just came in from wherever she was last night, said she was tired and she fell asleep,” she said. “She wasn’t with you the whole night, was she?” she asked suspiciously.

“NO! No, we were just together for the patrol, that’s it. I swear,” said James, holding his hands in front of him. 

“Okay, I believe you. Then, can you tell me what happened?” she asked curiously.

“Uh, I don’t think I should be the one telling you,” he said cautiously. “But, I will,” he said hastily at Marlene’s glare.

James quickly retold Marlene about how the Slytherins approached them and how Lily challenged Bellatrix. He told her about McGonagall coming and Lily yelling at him. Marlene looked shocked. 

“She said that?” she asked, both eyebrows raised.

James nodded solemnly. 

“Don’t worry about it, James. I’m sure she’ll forgive you. Although, I’m not even sure you should be the one apologizing,” she said assuring.

James shrugged. “I will anyways. I would feel better if I did,” he replied. 

Marlene nodded. “Do you want me to get her for you?” she asked.

“No, don’t wake her up. I’ll just talk to her at the Prefect meeting today,” he said.

Marlene nodded again.

“Hey, have you seen Remus?” he asked, wondering where his friend could be.

“I think he went down to the Library,” she replied.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll see you later,” he said getting up.

“Anytime, see you, James.”

“Bye.”

James walked down to the Library and looked for Remus. He found him sitting at his normal table near the back.

“Hey, Moony. Who spends their Saturdays in the Library?” he asked sitting down.

Remus rolled his eyes. “People who want to do well on their NEWTs,” he replied.

“Please don’t tell me that you’re studying for NEWTs already, Moony?”

“No, I’m just finished homework,” he said.

“Oh, thank goodness!” James exclaimed. “If you were, I’d officially dub you the biggest nerd on this planet,” he finished.

Remus rolled his eyes and packed up his things.

“So, what’s up Prongs? Wanna get some lunch?” he asked.

“Sure,” James replied, getting up.

“How was patrolling last night?” asked Remus.

James sighed. “Bad.”

“Why? What happened?”

James retold the story for the second time that day to Remus. 

“Wow.”

“Yeah,” said James.

“So, what’re you going to do?” asked Remus.

“Marlene told me she was sleeping, so I’m just going to apologize before the Prefect meeting,” he said shrugging.

They went to the Great Hall to eat their lunch. Sirius and Peter were not down there, so they figured they must be sleeping still. After lunch, James and Remus walked back to the Common Room. 

Marlene was still sitting in the Common Room, but this time, with Nicole and Melissa. 

“Hey girls,” said Remus, approaching them.

“Hey Remus, James,” said Melissa.

“Lily still not up yet?” asked James.

Marlene shook her head no. “She looked pretty tired when she came in,” said Marlene. “Don’t worry, I’ll wake her up before the Prefect meeting,” she said. Marlene took Lily’s place as prefect now as Lily was Head Girl. 

James nodded and said, “Come on Remus. Let’s go wake up Sirius and Pete.”

Remus nodded and they walked up to their dorm. 

“Come on Pete. Get up,” said Remus.

James, who was not in the mood to torture Sirius with ‘Veronica’, decided to copy Remus and wake up Sirius the old-fashioned way.

“SIRIUS. GET UP. IT’S 2 IN THE AFTERNOON,” said James.

Sirius mumbled something and rubbed his eyes. 

“Rise and shine, Princess. About time you got up,” said James, rolling his eyes.

Sirius yawned and stretched his arms out. His hair was not even messy as he ran a hand through it, trying to comb it out. It still fell elegantly into his face and he brushed it aside. 

“Morning Prongs,” he yawned again. “How was patrolling?” he asked, lifting himself out of bed.

“I’ll tell you once Peter gets up, I’ve already told it twice today,” he said.

“To who? Moony and…?” he asked.

“Marlene. Lily didn’t tell her yet. She’s still sleeping.”

“Oh. Peter! Hurry up and get your arse over here! I want to hear what happened!” shouted Sirius impatiently.

Peter scurried over hurriedly. 

“Good rat,” said Sirius patting him on the head.

Peter scowled.

“Hey Moony, when’s the next full moon?” asked James. Remus looked a bit peaky.

“Next week. Wednesday. Can you schedule me for patrol at least a couple days after?” he asked.

“Of course, Moony. Don’t worry about it,” James replied.

“All right, James. On with the story. What happened yesterday?” asked Sirius.

Once again, James retold the story to Sirius and Peter. Sirius was furious at his cousin Bellatrix.

“How dare she?! That filthy wench! When I get my hands on her…” he finished, wringing his hands.

“No, Sirius. Don’t do anything. If anyone should be mad, it should be me or Lily. Don’t do anything,” James repeated.

“I hate her! I hate all of them! Why does she have to be so damn obsessed with the Dark Arts!” exclaimed Sirius. His whole family was Dark Arts-obsessed. Only Sirius, his cousin Andromeda and his old uncle Alphard were normal.

“They’re not like you, Sirius. It’s better if you just leave it alone. There’s nothing you can do now. You better just distance yourself from them as much as possible,” said Remus.

“Yeah, you’re right. But I still hate _dear_ Bella. She’s such a bloody wench,” said Sirius darkly.

“Well, now that that’s over, who wants to play Quidditch?” asked James. 

“Yeah, I’m coming. Just let me get changed,” said Sirius.

“Remus? Pete? You in?” asked James.

“I’ll come outside but I’m not going to play,” said Remus.

“Yeah. Me too,” squeaked Peter.

“Sirius, we need to hold Quidditch try-outs soon,” he said, looking at Sirius.

“Okay, how about Tuesday?” he asked.

“Right before the full moon? Okay, I guess that’ll work. I’ll let McGonagall know.”

The four boys walked down the stairs and went outside to the Quidditch pitch but not before Sirius and Peter ate something from the Kitchens. It seemed so long ago when James and Lily had their little midnight feast. Once outside, Sirius and James flew around with the Quaffle for a while before deciding to return to Gryffindor tower. 

When they walked into the castle, they found Marlene walking outside with Nicole and Melissa.

James furrowed his eyebrows, “Lily still not awake yet?” It was already 4:00.

“No, she’s awake. She’s still in the dorm though,” replied Marlene.

“What’s she doing?” he asked.

“Said she wanted to finish homework,” she answered, shrugging her shoulders. “Don’t worry James. I’ll get her to the Prefect meeting. After dinner, right?” she asked.

James nodded. “After dinner. McGonagall’s letting us use her classroom,” he replied.

“Got it. See you then,” she said.

The Marauders walked back upstairs to their dorm. James took a shower after Sirius and they walked down to the Common Room. James still had a bit of Charms homework to finish, so he sat by the fire and completed it.

Dinner was starting soon, so the four boys made their way down to the Great Hall. They sat down and awaited the arrival of the four Gryffindor girls. Five minutes of waiting later, three out of the four girls came to sit with them. 

James furrowed his eyebrows. Where was Lily? Why hadn’t she come out of her dorm all day? Was she avoiding him?

Marlene saw the look on his face and replied, “James. Don’t worry. She’ll be there. She said she wasn’t hungry,” she said, sitting down.

James nodded, but he still felt as though Lily was avoiding him. He ate his dinner without speaking; the absence of Lily made him uneasy. Could she possibly be that mad at him? He didn’t do anything that wrong, did he? 

Soon enough, dinner was over. Marlene went back upstairs to Gryffindor tower to give Lily some food and bring her down to the meeting. James and Remus made their way to McGonagall’s classroom. Remus sat down and James stayed at the front of the class. They waited patiently as the prefects filed into the class.

…………………………

          Lily had managed to avoid James for the whole day. During that time, she got herself together and decided to apologize to him after the prefect meeting. But, she was still ashamed of how she acted. She only hoped James would forgive her, after all, they’d only been friends for 3 days now. She decided she needed a bit more time before the prefect meeting, so she skipped dinner. 

          

After dinner, Marlene had come back up. She brought Lily some food and they walked down to the Prefect meeting together. When they arrived, James was standing in front of the class and the prefects were sitting down at the desks. Lily gasped slightly at James. Not seeing him for a whole day was torturing for her. She loved spending time with him. _But, that time away from him was needed,_ she told herself. Marlene went to sit with Remus near the front of the class and Lily made her way towards James.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here,” said James, taking control. “Welcome to the first prefect meeting of this year,” he declared.

There was scattered applause. The Slytherins were glaring menacingly at Lily and James. Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black were the two seventh year prefects and were amongst the Slytherins who were glaring. Lily ignored them. 

“Today, we are going to make patrol schedules for the next month. You will be patrolling from eleven in the night, to one in the morning. During patrols, you will be looking for students out of bed. You cannot take away points, but you can give out detentions. You will be patrolling with your prefect partner, the person who is in your house and year. If you cannot make it to a patrol, please make sure to let me or James know and we will find someone to replace you,” said Lily.

“Each month will be one house patrolling. You will rotate each day amongst the 3 years in your house, so you will be patrolling 2 times a week. Lily and I will take the extra days where you will have no one to patrol, so we will be patrolling at least once a week. Gryffindors will take the rest of this month, Slytherins will take October, Ravenclaws have November, and Hufflepuff have December. It will continue on in that order until the rest of the school year, understood?” finished James.

The prefects nodded. “Good, now will the Gryffindor please come up here with your partners to sign for twice a week please?” said Lily.

The Gryffindor prefects stood up and went over to the calendar Lily was holding. Remus and Marlene picked their dates first. Remus made sure that they did not patrol on days close to the full moon. 

The Gryffindor prefects sat down and James spoke up. “We will have another prefect meeting at the end of this month where we will determine next month’s schedule.”

“Now that the schedules are taken care of, are there any suggestions or worries that anyone has?” Lily asked.

Narcissa Black raised her hand with a look of disgust on her face.

Lily looked at her. “Yes, Narcissa?”

“Yes, I have a complaint. I don’t think the Head Boy and Girl should be attacking innocent students and using violence as a source of punishment,” she said sneering. The Slytherins laughed.

“Narcissa, I can assure you that Lily and I do not attack _innocent_ students. They only reason we would use violence on someone was if that person was not cooperating, they resorted to violence first or they were an extremely _disgusting_ person,” he spat the last part out. He looked Narcissa in the eye and the Slytherins stopped laughing.

Narcissa stopped sneering and asked, “Oh, so then let me ask you why that little piece of scum standing beside you attacked my sister last night?” Gasps went around the room at the thought of the Head Girl attacking another student.

James was glaring at her and opened his mouth to retort. “Your sister was not _attacked_ as you say and deserved what she got because she is a truly _disgusting_ person,” he said angrily.

“STOP,” said Lily. “Enough of this. James, control yourself. Narcissa, please do not bring up personal matters into this meeting. I can assure you that Bellatrix was not attacked as James has already said, and in fact agreed to duelling. So as James and I were not all to blame here, I suggest we drop the matter and move on,” Lily looked away from Narcissa and looked around the room. “Anyone with suggestions?” asked Lily.

The rest of the prefects were still trying to register what had just happened between the Head students and the Slytherins. No one raised their hand for a while. James was still glaring at the Slytherins to be of any help. The Slytherins were all glaring at Lily. Lily was looking at the prefects. The prefects were looking between James, Lily and the Slytherins.

Remus, recovering first, raised his hand. “Maybe we should have a graduation ball, you know. For just the seventh years,” he said timidly.

Lily looked thoughtful. “That’s a good idea Remus. James and I will run it by McGonagall. Any other ideas?” she asked.

Marlene raised her hand. “How about we end the meeting and call it a night?” she asked hopefully.

The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects laughed. Looking around, Lily saw that James and the Slytherins were still glaring, so they weren’t going to get much done. Lily definitely couldn’t run the meeting by herself. 

“Alright. Everyone dismissed. We’ll let you know when the next prefect meeting will be. Goodnight, everyone,” she said. 

The prefects stood up and made their way to the door. Lily told Marlene to go ahead of her with Remus. Marlene nodded and gave her thumbs up. Lily smiled and walked over to James. 

“Hey James? Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked.

James looked surprised. He had stopped glaring once the Slytherins left, and that was pretty quick. He nodded and they waited till the last prefect was out the door. 

“I have something to say,” they both said at the same time.

“You go first,” they said again. They stopped. Lily opened her mouth and James stopped her with his hand.

“I’m sorry, Lily. For yesterday. I didn’t know that was how you felt, and I shouldn’t have tried to stop you. Forgive me?” he asked hopefully.

Lily was shocked. That was not what she was expecting. “What? James, you have no reason to be sorry. It was my fault. I should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have yelled yesterday and I’m sorry,” she said.

“What?” asked James, confused.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted yesterday. I’m sorry for challenging Bellatrix. I’m sorry for yelling at you. I’m sorry for acting like a total loon.”

“Whoa. Lily, don’t worry about it. Really. I didn’t know you felt like that, but you should know that you don’t have to prove yourself, especially to yourself. I mean, you’re on top of all your classes and Head Girl. Everyone respects you, except Slytherins, but who cares about them anyways? You should be proud of yourself. Why would you even think like that?” asked James.

Lily shrugged. “I guess partly because of the Slytherins, but mostly because of Petunia.”

“How so?” asked James curiously.

“She always told me that I was never good enough. She would criticize everything I ever did. I guess she was one of the reasons that I tried so hard all the time, just to be good enough for her. Eventually, I stopped trying to impress Petunia, as it wasn’t working, but I still felt the need to prove myself. Now, I just guess that’s just how I am,” she replied. “I’m sorry. I was being incredibly stupid last night.”

“Don’t be sorry Lily. Just know that you are an incredible witch and you will always be good enough, okay?” he said kindly.

Lily looked at him. He was so sweet. She had yelled at him and here he was apologizing. He made her want snog him senseless, but she held back. Instead, she hugged him.

James was taken aback by this. Lily was hugging him. He didn’t know what to do. Was he allowed to hug back? James mentally hit himself. _Of course you’re allowed to hug back, you dolt. You’re her friend, remember?_ So, James hugged back. 

Hugging James reminded Lily of the feeling of being in his arms again. This time, not only did she feel safe, but she felt his warmth and had his scent. She sighed deeply. It took a lot of strength on Lily’s part to let go. She felt so wonderful in his arms. 

“Thanks, James,” she said, stepping away from him reluctantly.

“For what?” he asked, confused.

“For being a great friend, of course,” she said.

He ran his hand through his hair. Wow. He hadn’t done that in a while. “No problem, Lily. Anytime,” he said shyly.

Lily smiled at his old habit. She always _pretended_ to hate it when he did that because he did it to be cool. She _actually_ hated when he did that because it made her want to run _her_ fingers through it.

“Come one, let’s go back to Gryffindor tower,” she said, opening the door. 

James nodded and followed her back. 


	10. New Discoveries

**Chapter 10: New Discoveries**

          Sunday, Lily, Marlene, Remus, Sirius and James decided to get the most out of the September weather and sit outside by their favourite beech tree. Lily was sitting in between Marlene and Remus against the tree, while James and Sirius lay down by their feet. Peter was off doing Merlin knows what, while Nicole and Melissa were off finishing homework that they didn’t finish yesterday. 

          

“Hey Marly. Don’t you think that we’re getting kind of distant with Nicole and Melissa?” asked Lily as they were sitting there relaxing.

Marlene shrugged. “I guess. But, it was bound to happen anyways. I mean, with us being best friends, and them being best friends, it couldn’t be helped,” replied Marlene.

“I guess. But do you want to have a slumber party like the old days?” asked Lily grinning.

“Sure!” said Marlene enthusiastically.

Sirius lifted his head. “What do you girls actually do at these slumber parties?” he asked curiously.

Marlene and Lily looked at each other. Lily winked swiftly and looked around casually. “Oh, you know. Have pillow fights in our underwear, talk about how sexy the three of you are, you know, all the good stuff,” Lily replied, shrugging lightly. Her voice was perfectly serious and her face showed no signs of joking behaviour.

This time James and Remus turned to look at the girls.

“Actually?” asked a curious James.

“Well, of course! You boys know how attractive we find you,” replied Marlene, her face showing the same signs as Lily’s.

James looked closely at Lily. Her face was serious, and there was no smile tugging at the corner of her lips. He observed her eyes and found what he was looking for. They glinted with humour and you could tell that Lily was joking.

“I don’t believe you,” said James.

“Are you denying the fact that I find you attractive James?” asked an amused Lily.

James faltered. “W-w-what?” he asked. 

“Are you denying the fact that I find you attractive?” she repeated, a smile slowly tugging at her mouth.

“N-no! What I meant was, that was not what you really do at your slumber parties,” he finally managed to get out.

“How do you know if that is actually what we do?” she asked curiously.

“I can tell by your eyes. Your face shows that you are serious, but your eyes give you away. They always do that. You can see what you’re actually feeling if you look closely,” he said quietly.

James and Lily were just staring at each other. Marlene, Sirius and Remus looked at each other, completely confused at the outcome of their little side project. James and Lily were moving on quite fine just by themselves. Really, what use were the three of them? 

Marlene motioned for the two boys to move away from Lily and James. They all stood up and walked a bit away from the two Head students. Lily and James didn’t seem to notice their three friends walk away. 

“What in Merlin’s name is going on?” asked a baffled Sirius.

“No idea. Marly?” asked Remus.

Marlene shrugged. “Maybe we should just give up on this idea and let them work it out on their own? I mean, look at the two of them. They didn’t even notice that we got up. I think, if we leave them on their own, they will end up together in the end,” she finished confidently. 

Sirius and Remus nodded enthusiastically. “Okay, now that that’s settled, let’s go interrupt their little staring contest,” said Sirius amusedly. 

…………………………

“I can tell by your eyes. Your face shows that you are serious, but your eyes give you away. They always do that. You can see what you’re actually feeling if you look closely,” he said quietly.

          

Lily didn’t say anything. _What? Can he actually read my eyes that easily?_

Lily looked into James eyes. She wanted to see if she could read his eyes as easily as he did hers. She’s done it before, but last time it was in her dream. 

She looked into his hazel orbs and discovered herself getting lost in them like the last time. Her mind went blank and she felt her heart thump a little louder. Lily felt warm and fuzzy. She completely relaxed and just let allowed herself to stare into them. 

Time seemed to stand still looking into his remarkable eyes. Lily forgot the real reason she looked into his eyes in the first place. She thought she saw Marlene, Remus and Sirius get up and walk away, but frankly, she didn’t care. 

Lily didn’t look away, but she wanted to look at the rest of James’ face. She kept her eye contact, but looked at his face as well. His jaw was very distinguished she could see small amount of stubble along his chin. He had a thin face and no longer looked like a boy. Yeeupp. James Potter was no longer a boy; he had finally grown up.

She saw from the corner of her eyes her friends walking towards them but she still didn’t look away. Then, all of a sudden, something moved from the side and their concentration was broken.

…………………………

“I can tell by your eyes. Your face shows that you are serious, but your eyes give you away. They always do that. You can see what you’re actually feeling if you look closely,” he said quietly.

James kept looking at her. _Dear Merlin! Did I actually say that? She going to think I am such a creeper!_ He thought to himself. Surprisingly, Lily did not look away or move at all. She just stared back. James tried reading her eyes again to try and figure out what she was feeling. Her eyes showed curiosity at first, but then it slowly started to fade. James didn’t bother resist the chance at being able to gaze freely at Lily. 

As he continued to look at Lily, he felt his heart beat harder and his blood pump quicker. She was still as breath-taking as always. 

James was propped up on his right elbow and was extremely uncomfortable, but he was afraid to move in case she might decide to look away. He stayed there, just looking into her outstanding eyes. He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye but ignored it. 

Then, Lily started looking at the rest of his face. He felt her eyes trace his jaw and slowly come back up to his eyes. They stayed like this for a while longer until they were interrupted.  

…………………………

“DID YOU MISS US?” yelled Sirius, jumping in between them. James and Lily, both coming out of their trances, jumped as well.

Sirius started laughing. Marlene and Remus rejoined Lily on the ground. 

“You should have seen your faces when I yelled! HAHAHA! That was priceless,” he said, sitting on the ground beside James.

Lily was looking at the ground, avoiding everyone’s eye. James was on both his elbows now, looking up. Both were embarrassed at themselves for staring that long and not looking away. Sirius looked into Lily’s eyes.

“Hey Lily. Look at me. I wanna see if I can do that thing that James does,” he said, staring at her. 

She rolled her eyes but let him try anyways.

“Hmm. I see…er, I don’t see anything but green,” he said scratching his head.

“Alright then,” said Lily standing up. “Marly and I need to do some preparing for our slumber party. See you boys later,” she said, dragging Marlene into the castle.

Sirius sat down in Lily’s place beside Remus. “So, how do you do it, mate?” asked Sirius curiously. 

“Do what?” asked James, still looking at the sky.

“Read Lily’s eyes like that; you can tell exactly what she’s thinking,” replied Sirius.

James shrugged. “Don’t know,” he answered.

“You’re not in love with Lily, Padfoot. That’s why you can’t do it,” said Remus quietly. 

“You mean you have to be in love with someone in order to do that?” asked Sirius.

“Well, none of us could do it, and we don’t love Lily like James does,” he replied, shrugging.

“I guess,” said Sirius, not thoroughly convinced. 

“Whatever, just drop it,” said James.

…………………………

          “Girls! We’re having a slumber party!” squealed Marlene to Nicole and Melissa.

          

“REALLY? We haven’t had one of those in such a long time!” said Nicole.

“I know! Okay, so Lily and I will get the food, you guys get the magazines and meet us in the dorm at 9:00!” The four girls rushed off to their destinations in preparation for their girl’s night.

At 9:00, all four girls rushed back into their dorm. Lily and Marlene had gathered all the food; marshmallows, chips, ice cream, Honeyduke’s chocolate and any other unhealthy foods they could find. Nicole and Melissa had gathered all recent and old magazines containing their favourite quizzes and games.

“All ready for tonight?” asked an excited Nicole.

Marlene and Lily nodded enthusiastically and pushed Marlene and Lily’s beds together. They all found a seat on the newly made bed and pulled food into their laps.

“So, what’s up with you girls?” asked Marlene.

“Mel’s got a new crush!” squealed Nicole like a little school girl.

“Oh really?! Who is he?” asked Lily, eating a bad of chips.

Melissa blushed. “He’s a seventh year Ravenclaw. His name is Shawn Forteo. Well...he’s cute and funny and smart….he’s..he’s…perfect,” she said dreamily. 

“Awwww Melissa that’s so cute! So, what’s he look like? Good looking?” Lily asked raising her eyebrows suggestively.  

“Of course! Since when have you known Melissa Jefferson to fall for anyone who isn’t decent looking?” said Nicole.

“Oh, come on. I’m not that shallow,” said Melissa.

The three other girls looked at her with raised eyebrows. Melissa rolled her eyes.

“Fine, maybe just a little,” she said. 

The four girls laughed. “So, what’s he look like?” asked Marlene, repeating Lily’s question.

“He’s on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team; I think he plays beater, not sure though. He has blond hair, blue eyes, nice smile, he’s tall and has a hot bod,” replied Melissa, staring off into the distance. By her description, Melissa and Shawn were exact opposites. Melissa had dark brown hair and matching brown eyes. She was also very petite. She was very pretty, but no where near Lily. 

Lily and Melissa’s taste in boys was extremely different. Lily didn’t like the boys were who the typical kind of hot; perfect blond hair, sky-blue eyes. She preferred the boys who had a darker shade of hair colour and something other than blue for an eye colour. She didn’t want the picture perfect boyfriend that was featured in the magazines for their ‘dreamy and drool-worthy’ looks. What she looked for in a boy was exactly James Potter.

“I think you’d make a great couple, Mel,” replied Lily truthfully.

“Thanks!” said an excited Melissa.

“So, Nic. Moving on. Still the old crush for you?” asked Marlene.

Nicole blushed a little and nodded. She had liked Preston Summers since fifth year. He was average height with light brown hair. His eyes were a brownish-green and he was in Ravenclaw with Shawn. Nicole had black, shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. Nicole and Melissa could almost look like sisters, but Nicole was slightly taller and a bit curvier. 

“I don’t understand why you just can’t go and talk to him,” said Lily. “He seems to like you back, you both are just too shy to admit you’re feelings,” she finished while moving onto marshmallows.

“Hey, what about you, Mrs. Potter? I don’t see you walking up to James and admitting you’re in love with him,” said Nicole, pointing at her. 

Lily blushed. “But my situation’s different,” she said.

“Oh? We’ve both liked our crushes for a long time, you, probably even longer than I have, and both of them seem to like us back. What’s so different?” asked Nicole.

“Well, for one, your crush hasn’t been asking you out for the past three years and abruptly stopped this year. Second, you haven’t been pretending to hate your crush for the last six years. Third, your crush seems to be just as shy as you are and is not likely to make the first move. And I am not IN LOVE with James,” said Lily, satisfied with her answer.

Nicole pouted. “Fine. But I’m going to wait until at least a month passes until I ask him out,” she said.

“That’s all we’re asking,” replied Marlene, smiling.

“Next, Marlene. Anyone you interested in?” asked Melissa.

“Umm. Kind of. It’s complicated though. And unexpected.” 

“Care to explain?” asked Lily.

“Not really…” 

“AW. Come on Marly,” said Nicole.

“Fine,” she said rolling her eyes. “I kind of like…”

“Yes?” asked the three girls.

“Um. ‘Mus ‘Pin,” she mumbled.

“WHAT?” they asked.

“Re… Lu…” she whispered to the floor.

“Come again?” asked Melissa.

“Remus Lupin,” answered Lily.

There was a silence. Nicole, Melissa and Lily were all looking at Marlene, and Marlene was looking at the floor. Then suddenly Lily hugged Marlene.

“Congratulations, Marly! Remus is a great guy,” she said, releasing her.

“I know, I know. But don’t get your knickers in a twist, it’s really just a small crush, I’ll probably get over it in a while. It’s nothing like Lily loving James,” she said, shrugging.

Lily furrowed her eyebrows. “I am not in love with James. I’m too young. Besides, what is love anyways? Who gets to decide what love is?” asked Lily, looking around at the three girls.

“Well, tell us how you feel about James,” said Marlene, smirking knowingly.

“Um. Okay. Well, he makes me smile,” she said hesitantly. She continued, “I think he’s extremely smart and excellent at Quidditch. He’s also very good looking, but not over doing it,” she slowly gained more confidence. “And his hair. It looks so soft. I love how he’s so loyal to his friends. He would do anything for them. I love how he knows how to have fun but when to draw the line. He makes me feel special. I like being in his company. I love the way he looks at me like I’m the only one in the room. His eyes are the most wonderful eyes I have ever seen. And just being with him makes me so…” she trailed off looking at her friends. The three girls were all looking at her and smiling gently. 

“Oh my. I’m in love with James.”

The girls’ smiles grew wider.

Lily was shocked. “I’m in love with James?”

Marlene, Nicole and Melissa nodded, still smiling.

“I’m in love with James.”

The three girls all started squealing like ten year olds and brought Lily into a huge hug. They were all laughing and smiling except for Lily.

“Lily, what’s wrong?” asked Melissa.

“I can’t be in love with James. No. He doesn’t love me back. Hell, I don’t even know if he likes me anymore! No, this is not good,” she said, shaking her head and closing her eyes.

“Lily, what the bloody hell are you on about? You’re doing exactly what you did before the patrols, and that turned out fine, right? Plus, we already told you, James is HEAD OVER HEELS in love with YOU,” said Marlene.

“No, this is different! I didn’t love James before patrols! It’s not the same!” replied Lily.

“Correction: you didn’t _KNOW_ you loved James before patrols, but you always did,” said Nicole.

“What do you mean? I think I would know if I loved someone or not,” snapped Lily.

“Not necessarily. You wouldn’t have figured it out until much later if we hadn’t asked you how you felt about him,” said Marlene.

“Still! It’s too young to be in love with someone! I’m only seventeen! I’m not even out of school yet. How is it possible that you meet the person you love when you’re seventeen?” asked a hysterical Lily.

“It happens all the time! My parents met at Hogwarts and now they are married with kids!” replied Nicole.

“Same here,” said Marlene. “And same with good friends of my parents, you remember Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewitt? Head Boy and Girl when we were in our first year? I heard they have maybe three kids now!” she finished.

“What are you implying?” asked Lily. “Are you saying that James and I are going to end up marrying and having five kids?!”

“It’s a possibility, but that’s not what we’re implying. What we’re trying to say is that it’s not impossible to meet the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with when you’re only seventeen. You don’t have to be done school to fall in love, Lily,” said Melissa.

Lily stared around at her friends. She calmed down a bit. Really what was so bad about being in love with James? _Well, if he doesn’t love you back—no. Lily, don’t think like that._ She hadn’t realized that she stood up in her mad attempt to talk her friends out of the idea of her being in love. She sat down and breathed deeply. She suddenly didn’t feel like having a slumber party anymore. She just wanted to get out of this room. 

“Hey girls. I’m sorry to do this, but I just need time to think and I don’t think I can continue with this slumber party. We’ll finish it another day, okay? You guys can continue, but I just can’t go on with it anymore,” said Lily, walking towards the door.

“But Lily, where are you going? It’s 10:30, past curfew,” said Marlene.

“Don’t worry, I won’t get caught. Plus, I’m Head Girl,” she said, shrugging.

She grabbed her Head Girl badge and pinned it messily on her shirt. She was in such a haste to get out of the room that she didn’t notice that she was still in her pyjamas. She left the room without another word to her friends.

She exited the Common Room without knowing where she was going. It was dark in the castle with the torches casting shadows on the walls. She shivered involuntarily. She knew she was just asking to be caught by teachers or ambushed by a bunch of Slytherins. _Great. First I realize that I’m in love with someone who doesn’t love me back, and then I get a detention or put into the Hospital Wing._

Lily kept walking absently down the corridors. She wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going and found herself in an unfamiliar corridor. She heard the shuffling of feet behind her and turned around. There was no one there. Her heart started beating a little faster. She felt around for her wand. _DAMNIT. It’s in my robes!_ So, even if Slytherins did attack her, she wouldn’t even be able to defend herself. Leaving her dorm was a very stupid, stupid idea. 

There it was again. The shuffling. This time it was added with a muffled whisper. Lily cautiously made her way towards the noise.

“Is anyone there?” she said quietly.

The whispering and shuffling stopped. She stopped moving as well. Suddenly, she heard another noise from the opposite end of the corridor. She turned around for the second time in the span of one minute. Her heart was pounding. She barely finished her turn when she felt a warm hand put over her mouth from behind and pull her backwards. 

…………………………

          Lily crashed into something. She saw something cover her and she smelled a familiar scent. Lily swore her heartbeat was echoing around her in the deserted corridor. She was about to scream when she heard a voice in her ear.

          

“Shhh. Lily, don’t scream.” 

Lily shivered. It was James. The hand left her mouth and her skin tingled. She turned around cautiously and met the eyes of Peter Pettigrew. _Wait. That can’t be right. Where’s James?_ She kept turning and saw Remus Lupin. _Nope, keep going._ She saw Sirius Black. _Is the whole Gryffindor tower hiding here or something? Sheez._ Finally, her eyes met the sight of James Potter. He was looking at her cautiously like she might suddenly burst out in song and blow their cover. 

She knew they were under the invisibility cloak and she was surprised that four grown teenage boys and one teenage girl could fit under one small invisibility cloak. _Hmm. It’s probably an enlargement charm or something._ But, back to the matter at hand. 

“What are you doing?” she whispered. Her heart was still echoing in her ears and it wasn’t calming down anytime soon.

“Shh,” said James putting a finger to her lips. “Look,” replied James, taking the finger away from her mouth and pointing somewhere behind her.

Lily turned back into the direction she came from and saw two shadows forming on the wall. They were starting to grow and grow until actual figures came into sight. She could see them coming closer and closer. She heard shuffling from her right. _So that’s what the shuffling was. It was Peter._ The two figures stopped moving. 

“Who’s there?” asked a cold voice. That cold voice belonged to Malfoy. She felt grateful to the Marauders for pulling her under the cloak when they did. They might have given her a pre-mature heart attack, but that was always better than anything Malfoy would have done to her when she was wand-less and in her pyjamas. 

“It’s nothing. Probably just a rat or something. Breathe, Lucius,” said an amused voice. Lily shuddered again. It was Bellatrix Black. She felt another surge of gratitude for the Marauders. It would definitely not have been pretty if she was left alone with Bellatrix and Lucius. 

She felt Sirius tense behind her and James grab his arm to stop him from charging out from under the cloak. Bellatrix and Sirius were definitely not the best cousins.

“Really, Lucius. You’re just like dear old ‘Cissa. The Dark Lord’s mission has made you two unbearably paranoid,” said Bellatrix.

The occupants of the invisibility cloak instantly perked up. The Dark Lord’s mission?

“Bellatrix! We never speak of the mission unless we are in the Slytherin Common Room! You dare endanger our chances?” whispered a furious Lucius.

“I would never dare endanger anything related to the Dark Lord. But, look around, dear Lucius. Do you see anyone?” she whispered back, anger in her voice. 

“Just because we don’t see anyone _dear_ Bellatrix, does not mean nobody is around!” retorted Malfoy.

“Fine, Lucius. Have it your way. Let’s just continue looking for what the Dark Lord wants,” Bellatrix said angrily. The two Slytherins continued walking on their way.

Lily moved to follow them but a hand on her arm stopped her. She looked up and saw James motion for her to move in the opposite direction. The five of them moved in the direction James was moving towards. They stopped in front of a wall across a tapestry. James then checked the Marauders’ Map and got out from under the cloak. Then, James started pacing in front of the wall. _What the bloodly hell does he think he’s doing?_ Lily thought.

Lily watched in amazement as a door appeared out of nowhere on the door. James motioned for them to come it. Lily stepped out from under the cloak and in through the door. Her mouth hung open. 

The room was a nice comfortable sitting room with a small table sitting in the middle. There was a roaring fire and blankets on the couches. The table also held five Butterbeers and a plate of cookies. 

“Nice, Prongs,” said Sirius, smirking at the table.

James smirked right back and sat down. 

“Have a seat,” he said, motioning Lily to sit on an armchair.

Lily sat down, her eyes still wide and looking around the room. “What is this place and how come I’ve never seen it before?” she asked.

“Welcome to the Room of Requirement,” said Remus.

“Hey, no fair Moony. I wanted to announce it,” said Sirius.

“Bad luck, Padfoot.”

“The Room of Requirement turns into any room when you most need it. All you need to do is pace in front of the wall three times, thinking about what you really need. If you need a washroom, it will turn into a washroom. If you need extra quills really badly, it will supply you with all the quills you will need for one lifetime. People usually stumble across it when they need it most and will probably never find it again,” said James.

“Hey, no fair Prongs. I wanted to explain it,” pouted Sirius again.

“Bad luck, Padfoot. Here, have a cookie,” said James, taking one from the table and throwing him one.

“So, why exactly are we here?” asked Lily.

“Well, I figured you’d want to talk about what had just happened out there and we needed a place where we wouldn’t be overheard,” replied James, shrugging.

Again, Lily was amazed at how James knew her so well when she barely knew him at all.

“Oh, before I forget, THANK YOU. THANK YOU. AND THANK YOU AGAIN,” she said. She got up and hugged all of them hastily, but she lingered a bit while hugging James.

“Why exactly are you thanking us?” asked Peter.

“For pulling me under the cloak, of course. Bellatrix and Malfoy certainly wouldn’t have been very friendly and I don’t exactly have my wand with me…” she said, embarrassed.

“What?! What do you mean you don’t have your wand with you?” asked James, horror-stricken at the idea of Lily wand-less at night.

Lily blushed. “Well, because I didn’t really want to stay in my dorm tonight and I kind of left in a hurry,” she replied.

“Hey. Weren’t you supposed to have a slumber party tonight where you run around in your knickers with your mates?” asked a suspicious Sirius, talking with cookie crumbs falling out of his mouth.

“Eww. Sirius, that is really disgusting. Why so many girls fancy you is a mystery to me,” said Lily, disgusted. She looked away and continued, “About the slumber party. I wasn’t really in the mood anymore.”

“Why, what happened?” asked James.

“Oh. Er. Nothing. Just didn’t want to have one anymore,” she replied nervously. “But we came here to talk about Bellatrix and Malfoy,” she changed the subject hastily.

Sirius suddenly got up at the mention of his cousin and grabbed a Butterbeer. He chugged it and put the bottle back on the table angrily. He started muttering under his breathe and glaring at the wall.

Lily looked questionably at James. He mouthed ‘Bellatrix’ to her. Lily understood and looked away from him.

Lily coughed. “Er, Sirius? Will you be okay talking about this?” she asked cautiously.

He looked at her. “Sure, I would just _love_ to talk about my _lovely_ family and all the _wonderful_ works they are doing to make this school a truly _better_ place.”

Lily didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know that Sirius was so affected by his cousin. She guessed she would never know as she was not related to Dark Arts-obsessed freaks. 

“Oh, er. Sorry, Sirius. I didn’t mean to upset you,” she finished timidly.

Sirius looked at her with a mean look on his face, but it slowly softened. “You didn’t upset me Lily. You’re not related to me,” he said. He grabbed another Butterbeer and finished it again.

“Continue on talking. Really, I don’t mind,” said Sirius, grabbing another cookie and sitting down.

“D-don’t you think we should get back to the Common Room? I mean, it’s getting late,” squeaked Peter nervously. 

Lily didn’t know how he came to be a Marauder. The giant squid would make a better Marauder than Peter. _I mean, really, get a backbone._

“Relax Peter. We’re not going to get caught or anything,” said Remus.

“So, what do you reckon Bellatrix and Malfoy are looking for?” asked James.

“No, what is Voldemort looking for at Hogwarts?” corrected Lily.

Lily, James and Remus thought in silence. Peter was fidgeting nervously and Sirius was still muttering under his breath. 

“What if Voldemort is looking for a way inside the school? Maybe he’s planning to attack,” said James.

“Not likely, Prongs. He wouldn’t dare as long as Dumbledore’s Headmaster. You know that he’s the only wizard Voldemort is afraid of,” said Remus.

The three of them continued on thinking as the other two continued on fidgeting and muttering.

“Maybe he wants to recruit,” said Lily.

“That is a possibility, but why would Bellatrix and Malfoy be looking around at night for followers? Wouldn’t they be looking in their own house for people to recruit?” said Remus.

“Hey Remus. Since you keep shooting down our ideas, why don’t you think of something?” asked James, annoyed that they couldn’t think of anything. 

Remus thought for a while. Then he said, “Maybe Voldemort is looking for an object of some sort. Maybe he’s searching for something that is within the school. Something that would be useful for him and that would help him accomplish something.”

“Like what though?” asked Lily. “That could be anything.”

Remus shrugged. “I’m only thinking of an idea, not the whole plan,” said Remus. 

“Hey guys, let’s think about this another day. I still got Potions homework to do,” said James.

Lily nodded. “But don’t you think that it’s scary that Voldemort has followers inside Hogwarts? Can’t they do serious damage?” asked Lily, slowly getting up from her seat.

“Yeah, of course it’s scary, but again, I don’t think they will attack or anything as long as Dumbledore’s here,” replied Remus.

“I guess. Hogwarts just doesn’t seem all that safe anymore knowing that there are mini-Death Eaters running around,” said Lily, shivering slightly. 

“As long as Dumbledore’s here, you will always be safe. And you can always come to any of us if there’s trouble,” said James meaningfully.

“Thanks, James,” said Lily, smiling up at him.

“No problem,” he said, smiling back.

“Hey, I’ve got a question. What were you four doing before you grabbed me?” Lily asked.

James shrugged. “Going to the Kitchens for a snack,”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Of course.”

“Come on, let’s get back. It’s 11:30,” said Remus, already at the door.

The five teenagers got under the enlarged invisibility cloak once again and checked the Marauders’ Map before heading back towards Gryffindor tower. 

**REVIEW!**


	11. Explanations

**Chapter 11: Explanations**

          James woke up Monday morning with the sun shining in through the window. He rubbed his eyes but stayed in bed. He really didn’t want to go to classes that day. He knew he had a dream, but he could barely remember it. He heard the shower running and assumed it was Remus. James looked up at the clock; 8:21. Four minutes till class. James slowly put on his glasses and sat up. Then he stopped abruptly. _WHAT! FOUR MINUTES TILL CLASS?! WHY DIDN’T ANYONE WAKE ME?!_ He hastily grabbed his pants and fell on the floor trying to get them on. He saw all the other beds were empty but the shower was still going. One minute later, Sirius walked out of the bathroom.

          

          “Hey Prongs. You’re finally awake,” said Sirius, drying his hair with a towel.

“Why didn’t you wake me, Sirius?!” asked James, still sitting on the floor and now trying to get his tie on properly.

“We tried, Prongs. We even poured water on you. You wouldn’t move. We though you were dead, but we saw you breathing, so we figured you were just really tired,” said Sirius shrugging.

James checked his pillow. Sirius wasn’t lying; his pillow was wet and there was a dry spot where his head had been. James furrowed his eyebrows. Why hadn’t he woken up? Was his dream that important that he couldn’t even wake up? He decided he would think about this later as he had two minutes to brush his teeth, put on his robes, get his books into his bag and run down to McGonagall’s classroom. Sirius was walking around leisurely like he had all the time in the world.

“SIRIUS! WOULD YOU STOP LOOKING IN THE MIRROR AND HURRY UP?! WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!” shouted James.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows into the mirror at James. “Since when did you become Miss Goody-Two-Shoes?” he asked.

“Since Dumbledore made me Head Boy and I’m supposed to be setting an example for other students!” he shouted at Sirius.

“Well Mr. Head Boy, I don’t need to be on time for class, so will you just go already?” asked Sirius, continuing to fix his already perfect hair in the mirror. 

James rolled his eyes and ran out of the dorm. He was really hungry, but he didn’t have enough time to go to the kitchens. He had approximately 30 seconds to get to Transfiguration. He took all the shortcuts he could possibly use. While he was running through the last shortcut, the bell rang. James cursed and ran faster. 

“Professor! I’m here!” he shouted as he ran into class. 

“Thank you for announcing yourself, Mr. Potter. Now please take a seat,” said McGonagall with a stern look on her face. James sat down at the empty desk where Sirius usually sat beside him. 

The class was tittering at the appearance of the dishevelled Head Boy. His glasses were crooked, his hair was even messier than it normally was, his tie was hanging around his neck, he was out of breath and his stomach was grumbling loudly. Did James Potter actually miss breakfast in order to be on time? 

Professor McGonagall started teaching the lesson and James groaned. Why did he come to class today? Better question, why hadn’t he gotten up this morning? James really didn’t feel like listening so he put his head on the desk. He shut out McGonagall and tried to remember his dream.

All James could recall in his dream was a blinding green light and Lily. Maybe the green light was from her eyes? No, it was different. Lily’s eyes were warm and calming but this light was harsh and too bright. He closed his eyes and let McGonagall’s voice lull him to sleep. 

_Lily was in James’ arms. They were smiling up at each other. James saw love reflecting in Lily’s eyes. He moved into kiss her, but she disappeared. She was there, safe in his arms, and suddenly, she had disappeared and was nowhere to be found. He looked around and started calling out her name. James was startled to find that there was no sound coming out of his mouth. He saw the entrance to the castle and decided to look for Lily inside. He ran into the Entrance Hall and found no Lily. Suddenly, James was on the seventh floor. He heard Malfoy shouting at someone._

_“Move aside, stupid girl. Give it to me!” shouted Malfoy._

Who is he shouting at? _James ran towards Malfoy’s voice. When he reached the source of the voice, he saw that Malfoy and Bellatrix had their wands pointing at Lily, but she was standing tall._

_“Give it to me now!” he shouted at Lily._

_Lily started to pull something out of her robes._

_“NOO! Lily, don’t give them anything!” shouted James, running towards them._

_“Stupid boy! Now she dies!” cackled Bellatrix. She pointed her wand at Lily and a flash of green erupted from her wand and hit Lily in the chest._

“NOO! Don’t die!” James yelled jumping from his seat. _That was it. That was the dream,_ he thought. 

          He looked around and noticed all eyes were on him. McGonagall looked annoyed and the class was laughing at him. Lily was at the front of the class demonstrating wand movements. She looked extremely confused at James’ actions. 

          

“Mr. Potter if you are done interrupting my class for the second time, I would like to continue with my lesson and I assure you that Miss Evans will _not_ die,” said Professor McGonagall sternly. 

James blushed and sat back down. He noticed that Sirius occupied the seat next to him and was struggling to keep from laughing. Lily went back to demonstrating the movements to the class. James put his head back on the desk in shame. He closed his eyes and groaned quietly. He momentarily forgot about his dream because he was so embarrassed. 

When Lily sat back down, McGonagall announced the homework and the bell rang. James moved towards the front of the class to talk to McGonagall. 

He coughed slightly, “Er, Professor? Could I have second?” he asked politely.

McGonagall looked at him and nodded curtly. “Yes, Potter?” 

“Well, first is that I wanted to apologize for disrupting your class…” he finished awkwardly.

“You are forgiven, but please Mr. Potter, don’t do it again. I do not like giving out detentions to Head Students,” she said.

_Suurreee,_ he thought. “Okay, and also, could we have Quidditch try-outs tomorrow after dinner?” he asked.

“Tomorrow is a bit short notice, but I suppose it is acceptable. I’ll have the notice posted in the Common Room by lunch. Good day, Potter.” And with that, she excused him from the class.

James walked out of the class to discover that the Marauders had waited for him.

“So, now you decide to wait for me, huh?” he asked bitterly.

“Sorry, Prongs. But, we tried everything,” said Peter meekly.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” he replied moodily, trying to fix his tie.

“So, Prongs. What was that earlier?” asked Sirius, amused. 

“Well, I didn’t wake up in the morning because I was having a dream. And in class, I had the dream again during my…nap,” he replied. 

The three boys looked at him strangely. “What were you dreaming about, mate?” asked Sirius.

“I’ll tell you later, we’re at Potions,” said James. 

…………………………

          Lily walked into Potions class with Marlene as usual and sat down at their normal spot. Lily hadn’t told Marlene what happened the night before and she wasn’t sure if she should. Lily usually told Marlene everything, but this time, it didn’t seem right. She told herself that if she did end up telling Marlene, she would be revealing the Marauders’ secrets which she promised James she wouldn’t tell anyone. She would think about it later though, as Marlene started talking.          

“Hey, what do you think Transfiguration was about?” asked Marlene.

Lily looked at her. “Marly, please don’t tell me you weren’t paying attention again! I mean, I can’t go through—” started Lily impatiently.

“Not the lesson, Lily! James shouting ‘Don’t die!’” said Marlene, rolling her eyes. 

“Oh, that.”

“Yeah, that.”

Lily didn’t say anything.

“Well?” asked Marlene.

“What?” responded Lily.

“What do you think happened?” asked Marlene impatiently.

“Oh. Well…maybe he was daydreaming,” she tried.

“Maybe it was an actual dream, not just daydreaming. But what about?” asked Marlene.

“No idea,” replied Lily. Talking about James made her stomach flutter so she changed the subject. “When do you and Remus have patrolling?” she asked.

“Um, for this week I think we’re patrolling Saturday and Sunday,” replied Marlene. 

Lily nodded. _That made sense,_ she thought to herself. She knew that the full moon was this Wednesday and that Remus would not be able to patrol that night or nights immediately following. But, Marlene didn’t know about Remus, so she didn’t say anything. Lily had figured it out on her own and confronted Remus because of patrols. It wouldn’t be long until Marlene figured it out for herself or Remus told her. 

“What day did you and James get stuck with?” asked Marlene.

“Thursday,” Lily replied. 

“I’m nervous. I mean two hours with him? Alone? Plus the threat of Slytherins? That’s a lot a girl has to deal with,” said Marlene.

Lily nodded in agreement. It was a lot to deal with. She was surprised she actually liked patrols. “But really, what can you do? Slytherins are just arses and…it’s not our fault we have crushes on our partners,” Lily finished in a whisper.

Marlene shrugged, “I guess, but still. It’s stressing,” she said.

Lily nodded again and the Marauders walked into class. She gulped. James still looked dishevelled but extremely handsome just the same. His tie was now messily done and his shirt sleeves were rolled up. Guys were so lucky; they could get ready in four minutes and still look good. 

Lily looked away quickly before he noticed she was looking. Then, Professor Slughorn entered and greeted the class.

“Hello there! And what a lovely morning it is! Now, shall we get started? Open up to page 297 please!” he exclaimed.

The class turned to the correct page and got to work obediently. Lily and Marlene chatted for the remainder of the period as it was group work again. As usual, Lily and Marlene got top marks.

…………………………

          At lunch, James ate like a lion that had been deprived of food for a month. His stomach had been grumbling all during Potions. He was so hungry that he almost ate one of the beetles used for potion making. Thank Merlin for Remus though, or James probably would have done it. 

          

James was still embarrassed about first period and seeing Lily at lunch didn’t help; after all it was Lily who was ordered not to die by James. 

The girls approached the boys and sat down. Lily sat beside James again and Marlene sat across from her which happened to be beside Remus. Nicole and Melissa were sitting with a few friends from Ravenclaw hoping that that would increase their chances at getting with their crushes.

“Hey boys. How are you this morning?” asked Marlene.

“Fine,” replied Remus half-heartedly.

Marlene glanced at Remus and noticed he was a bit pale. “Hey Remus, you sure you’re okay? You look a little pale,” she asked concerned.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure. Just a little cold,” he coughed, trying to prove to her that he was sick.

“Okay…” she replied, unconvinced.

“H-hey Lily? Sorry about Transfiguration today. I fell asleep and I kind of had a dream, it had nothing to do with class,” he said, embarrassed.

Lily nodded. “It’s fine, but can I ask what you were dreaming about?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Uhh…” he started. He didn’t really want to, but he would probably end up telling her anyways so he continued. “Remember what we heard last night? Well, Malfoy and Bellatrix were threatening someone to give them what they were looking for and Bellatrix shot the Killing Curse at them,” he said, trying to leave out as many details as possible.

“Who were they threatening?” asked Sirius.

“Er, I couldn’t see them,” said James. He shot Sirius a look that said, I’ll tell you later. 

Marlene looked on in confusion. “Wait, what happened last night?” she asked.

“Can’t tell you now, too open,” replied Lily. 

Marlene furrowed her eyebrows. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” she asked Lily. 

Lily grimaced. She knew this was coming. “Sorry Marly. There was no time to talk in private,” she said.

“We’ll fill you in after dinner,” said Remus.

“We’ll talk in our dorm for privacy,” said Sirius, winking.

Lily smirked and finished eating her lunch. 

…………………………

          Soon, it was dinner. The six Gryffindors (Nicole and Melissa were at Ravenclaw table once again) sat down and ate their food. Marlene was curious and Lily was not looking forward to it; she didn’t want to have to explain why she left her dorm in the first place and was hoping no one remembered or brought it up. 

          

When the six were done eating, they made their way up to the seventh year dormitories. Remus cast a silencing charm on the room and locked the door. The four boys sat down on their respective beds and the girls stood awkwardly. 

Sirius smirked and went to sit beside James. “Go ahead,” he said pointing to his bed. 

Marlene scowled and Lily smirked once again. They sat down and the room went quiet. 

“So, what happened then?” asked Marlene.

“Well, us four lads went down to the Kitchens and decided to take a different way back to Gryffindor tower and that is where we found dear Lily here,” started Sirius.

“Well, first things first. Marly, we have something to show you,” said James looking around at the three boys. They all nodded and James went to his trunk. “Us Marauders, as you know, are the masters at pranking, but also, not getting caught,” he said as he searched through his trunk. He pulled out a blank piece of parchment and another thing which he hid behind his back. He walked over to Marlene and Lily. “As you remember, Lily and as you will see, Marlene, this is the Marauders’ Map,” he said handing over the paper.

“But this is just an old piece of parchment, how could it be a map?” asked Marlene, clearly curious and confused.

“Ah, that is where the Marauder-ness of it comes in,” replied Remus. Marlene looked on, confused.

James tapped the map and said the words clearly this time so that Lily could hear, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good,” he pronounced clearly. 

Lily laughed loudly. _Of course,_ she thought to herself, _what else would it be?_

James smiled and handed the parchment to Marlene. She took it and looked down. Lily watched in amazement once more as the thin lines spread across the parchment. Now that there was light, she could see words appear. 

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_Are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER’S MAP_

          Lily laughed again. These four boys were truly intelligent. And funny.

          

“Why are you laughing, dear Lily?” asked Sirius, with his eyes closed.

“Why, good sir, because your dear map is purely wonderful,” replied Lily. Marlene nodded in agreement as her eyes looked over the map. 

“But I thought that dear Prongs here showed you the map already,” he said, opening one eye.

“Of course he did, but since the light was limited, I wasn’t able to see its full content,” said Lily.

“Oh, but Lily, you still haven’t seen all of it yet,” replied James, grinning.

“Really? What more could this map do?” she asked, “Surely it doesn’t shoot out insults too, does it?” she said jokingly.

The four boys looked at each other. They were all grinning; Sirius’ eyes were both open now. 

“Oh, my Merlin. It throws out insults?” asked Lily, disbelievingly. Marlene looked up from the map and looked at the boys. 

“No, it can’t! That is amazing!” Marlene shouted out. “Show us!” she exclaimed.

This time, Sirius stood up and took the map. He said, “Mischief managed.” The lines instantly disappeared. He placed his wand on the blank parchment and said, “Severus Snape would like to see this map.” He handed it to Lily and Marlene and the two girls watched in amazement.

_Mr. Moony would advise Mr. Snape to get his filthy hands off of the Marauders’ property and take a nice, long shower._

_Mr. Wormtail would recommend using shampoo while he takes said shower._

_Mr. Padfoot thinks that Mr. Snivellus Snape is a greasy hairball and should wash his underpants._

_Mr. Prongs would like to commend Messrs Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot on their excellent comments and would simply advise Mr. Snape to stay out of the Marauders way and no one shall be hurt or humiliated greatly. Good day._

The two girls started laughing hysterically. “You… _gasp_ …guys are… _hahaha_ …brilliant!” Lily managed to get out. 

The four boys smiled brightly at Lily and Marlene. Remus now stood around the girls. Peter walked over as well as he felt left out. Remus put his wand to the map and said, “Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon would like to see the contents of this map.”

Lily and Marlene looked down curiously to see what the map would say about them.

_Mr. Moony would like to tell his very pretty lady friends to kindly put the parchment back and assure you that if asked very politely, the Marauders would only be pleased to show you what it contained._

_Mr. Wormtail agrees with Mr. Moony and would also like to say that Ms. Evans and Ms. McKinnon are lovely people._

_Mr. Padfoot would like to say that his bed is always welcome for lovely ladies as yourselves._ (Lily and Marlene both snorted and Sirius smirked as they were on his bed already.)

_Mr. Prongs says that Ms. Evans and Ms. McKinnon are very good friends of his and that Mr. Prongs lo—_

James snatched the map from Lily’s hands before she had a chance to read what the map had said about her. Since it was his character that was talking, he knew it would read something like, ‘Mr. Prongs loves Lily’ or ‘Ms. Lily Evans is the sun in Mr. Prongs’ life’ or ‘Mr. Prongs thinks Ms. Lily Evans is the most beautiful women to walk this world’ or…you get the picture. He hastily put the map back in his trunk and cleared his throat. 

“Okay, we still have some more stuff to show you,” said James awkwardly. Everyone besides Lily and Peter were smirking knowingly at him. Lily was frowning as she wanted to see what the map said, and Peter was oblivious to what the map had almost revealed to Lily. 

“What else do I have to know before you tell me what happened?” asked Marlene curiously.

James cleared his throat again, avoiding Lily’s eye. He pulled out the invisibility cloak from behind his back. “This,” he said, handing it to her.

Marlene’s mouth hung open. “No. Way. These are so rare! Where did you get this?!” she asked, holding it up in front of her. 

“Family heirloom,” he replied. 

“Can you put it on?” she asked him, eyes wide with excitement. 

James took it from her and put it around his shoulders so only his head was visible. Marlene’s reaction was very similar to Lily’s but James enjoyed Lily’s more than Marlene’s. 

“So, with the Marauder’s Map and the invisibility cloak, you guys can virtually get away with anything!” Marlene exclaimed. 

Remus nodded. “But, you can’t tell anyone. You two girls are the only non-Marauders who know about it,” he said looking at Marlene seriously.

“Don’t worry, boys. I won’t tell a soul. Lily and I are very honoured that you are telling us your greatest secrets to us,” she said. “Right, Lily?”

Lily nodded. “Of course! I’m surprised you told us in the first place,” she said truthfully. 

The four boys looked at each other and Sirius said, “That’s not our greatest secret; but that’s for another time.”

Lily and Marlene furrowed their eyebrows. “Sirius you only spiked our curiosity,” Lily said. 

“Curiosity killed the dog, you know,” Remus said, smirking at the girls. 

Marlene pouted at Remus, but said, “Then, are you guys going to tell me what happened last night if you aren’t going to tell us your secret?” 

“Right. So we found Lily on the seventh floor and we pulled her under the cloak because we saw Malfoy and Bellatrix on the map coming our way,” said James. Sirius returned to his behaviour from yesterday night at the mention of his dear cousin Bellatrix, although this time, there was no Butterbeer or cookies.

 “And once I was under the cloak, Malfoy and Bellatrix were talking and they said something about some sort of mission they were on for Voldemort,” Lily said. Peter squeaked at the mention of the mission and the boys rolled their eyes at him.

“And they were supposed to be looking for something that Voldemort wants,” supplied Remus. 

“What do you think it is?” asked Marlene. 

“We’re not sure, but Remus thinks it’s something that will help him accomplish something,” said James.

“And we’re still not sure what this object is,” added Lily. “Any ideas?” she asked Marlene.

Marlene thought for a while. “Well, since I am no evil, dark wizard, I have no clue as to why he has his mini-Death Eaters searching the school,” she said.

The others nodded and they all fell silent.

“Do you reckon we should tell Dumbledore?” asked Marlene.

The others paused. “We didn’t think about that,” said Remus, scratching his chin. 

“But even if we do tell him, what is he going to do? Forbid Malfoy and Bellatrix from searching the school?” she scoffed. “And besides, the boys and I shouldn’t have been out after hours in the first place,” said Lily.

“How about, for now, we don’t tell him. If we discover anything else, we’ll tell him. And we’ll just tell him that we found out through patrols,” said James.

They nodded and fell silent again. 

“So, if that’s it, then I think Marlene and I should leave. We still have homework, and its 8:30,” said Lily.

Remus nodded and said, “See you later,” while unlocking the door and taking off the silencing charm. The girls said goodbye and left the boys’ dorm. 

…………………………

          “So, what do you think?” Lily asked Marlene as they sat in their empty dormitory.

          

“I’m not sure,” replied Marlene. “I mean, they could be looking for anything, can’t they? There’s really nothing we can do,” she replied.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Lily, getting her homework out of her bag. 

“Hey, Lily? Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Marlene.

“First, because you would ask questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer because I promised James I wouldn’t tell anyone about their secret. Second, because I don’t want Nicole and Melissa to know about this, it’s one of those things I would only share with you,” said Lily.

Marlene nodded. “So how’re things with James?” she asked Lily.

Lily didn’t answer for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said. “He’s acting weird, like he’s afraid of being my friend,” she said sadly.

“Maybe it’s because he is,” said Marlene. Lily looked confused and hurt. “No, not cause he doesn’t like you, but because he is afraid that if he becomes too close, then he will always be wanting more and will never be satisfied until you two are actually together,” she said.

“But I want to be with James,” said Lily exasperated.

“But he doesn’t know that, does he? He thinks that you only want to be friends for now! And he’s not going to force anything on you because he’s the one who’s been taking all the chances for the last six years! He’s waiting for you to come forward and tell him you want to be with him!” exclaimed Marlene.

Lily stared at her. “How do you know this?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“I just do, Lily. Everyone can see it besides you. Love makes you blind.”

Lily nodded. “I don’t know if I’m ready to tell him yet. After all, we’ve haven’t even been official friends for a week,” she said.

“Don’t worry about doing it any time soon, just as long as you do it,” said Marlene. “Like I said before, just try and get to know him.”

“But, how can I if he’s not willing to and he’s afraid of being my friend?” she asked.

“He won’t be able to resist you for that long, Lily. Eventually, he’ll learn to take what he can get and wait until he can have what he wants,” said Marlene. 

Lily sighed. “This year is going to drive me crazy,” she said, lying down on her bed. “James, NEWTs, Head duties and Slytherins. Kill me now,” she said.

“Lily, don’t think like that. Everything has a bright side. James is easy because you’ll end up together at least by Christmas. Also, you get to spend time with James, watch him play Quidditch, do some more pranking, et cetera. That’s a plus. NEWTs, you will gets O’s on everything anyways. Head duties are a chance to spend more time with James. Slytherins can be dealt with, not to mention James will kick their arses during Quidditch. And if I kill you now, you and James will not have green-eyed, black haired, smart, Quidditch superstar babies,” said Marlene cheerfully.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say Marlene,” she said.

Marlene smiled. “Good. Now get up and do your homework so you can help me with Charms,” she said. 

**R-E-V-I-E-W**

**Thanks. XD**


	12. Sleeping

**Chapter 12: Sleeping**

          James woke up sweating. He noticed it was still dark outside. He put on his glasses and checked the time; 3:24. He wiped the sweat from his face and sighed. James had been having the same dream almost every night since the first time he dreamt it. It was now the beginning of October; three weeks ago. The dreams would always be the same; Lily would be with him, she would disappear and then Bellatrix would kill her. At first, James paid no attention to it, as he thought they would eventually go away. Now, it was just frustrating. _I already know what happens, so what the bloody hell does it mean?!_ He thought to himself. 

          

James got out of bed quietly and walked to the bathroom. He washed his face and looked in the mirror with his glasses back on. James had dark bags under his eyes from all the nightmares, and his eyes were dull. He messed up his hair purely out of habit and went back to his bed. 

He looked up at the ceiling and ran the dream over and over in his mind trying to find a hidden meaning. He assumed that the object Malfoy was asking Lily for was the thing that Voldemort wanted. That was obvious. _But why Lily?_ He thought, _Could it be just because she’s the girl that I love and because I’m afraid of seeing her die? Or does she actually have what Voldemort wants?_ These questions were constantly repeated whenever he had a dream and he would never have an answer, no matter how much he thought about it. James had asked Remus, Sirius and even Peter about what they thought, but they weren’t much help. As far as he knew, they all probably thought he was off his rocker. 

James closed his eyes and saw the blinding green light hitting Lily in the chest. He opened his eyes. He shook his head like he was trying to physically shake the image from his thoughts. 

The past three weeks had been frustrating hell for James. Three weeks ago was also the full moon where he and the Marauders would accompany Remus in their animal forms to the Shrieking Shack so that Remus could transform. That particular full moon had not been a good one. Remus the werewolf was in a terribly bad mood and never seemed to run out of energy to fight. James and Sirius had multiple bruises and cuts from their monthly adventure; James was still sore in some areas.

Not only did he have to deal with the nightmares, but he had Head duties with Lily. He would be deprived of another night’s worth of sleep each week. But, they had also proven to be a good time to spend with Lily. It was basically the only time he could talk to Lily freely without people smirking at him. James and Lily had become very good friends in the short time span of three weeks, but positive things always attracts a negative affect. 

James was frustrated that he and Lily were _just friends_. Lily knew that James had liked her for six long years, would she think his situation had changed after just one year? She might have only become his friend because she felt bad for him and that made James’ heart ache. He wanted for her to realize that James was her second half, her match made in heaven. They got along extremely well and could talk about anything and everything. Lily told James about her problems and he listened faithfully. He was ecstatic that Lily would trust him so much and he was hopeful. He told Lily everything except the Marauders’ biggest secret. He told her about the nightmares but not that she starred in it; he didn’t want to scare her off or anything. 

There wasn’t anyone in the world James would rather spend his time with and he was pretty sure Lily enjoyed spending time with him as well. What was she afraid of? Why wouldn’t she just give him a chance? He knew that she wouldn’t regret it if she did. 

James sighed and rubbed his temples. _This has to stop. I don’t know how much more I can take of this._ James was so tired, but he couldn’t sleep because of the unbearable images that raked his mind. _If I can’t sleep,_ he thought, _then I might as well get something done._ James climbed out of his bed and grabbed his book bag. He quietly walked out of the dormitory and down to the Common Room. 

James re-kindled the fire and sat down in the armchair closest to it. He shivered slightly and got out his books. He opened his Transfiguration text book and stared at the words. He tried reading, but _surprisingly_ couldn’t concentrate. Words like ‘lightly’ and ‘verbalize’ would turn into ‘Lily’ and ‘Voldemort’. James rubbed his eyes and closed the book. He closed his eyes and opened them before his dream would replay behind his eyelids. 

Unable to find anything better to do, James sat watching the fire for the rest of the night. 

…………………………

          Lily woke up with the sun again. Her life was feeling somewhat normal after her and the Marauders overheard Malfoy and Bellatrix that night. She had become very good friends with James so she was happy enough. She wasn’t as stressed as before because she knew that James would eventually ask her out again; after all it’s been one month since school started and he hasn’t asked her out once. There was a Hogsmeade weekend coming up and she was crossing her fingers that he would ask her. 

          

Lily and James patrols were Lily’s favourite time of the week. Without them, Lily was sure that they would not have become such close friends within the one month. Lily told James basically everything now, besides her crush problems which she discussed with Marlene. In return, James shared his thoughts with her even though she knew he wasn’t telling her everything. She knew that James had four best friends already; hell, they were more like brothers, but she still liked that he would tell her things and that they got along well. As she spent more time with him, she fell harder and harder for the messy-haired Head Boy. 

During patrols, Lily and James caught around 5-10 kids out of bed but the rest of the time it was just the two of them. They hadn’t heard anything on Malfoy and Bellatrix since that night. James brought the Marauder’s Map with them when they patrolled so they could see if either was out of bed, but, so far, Malfoy and Bellatrix had always been in their Common Room. 

Lily got out of bed and went to take a shower. When she walked out of the bathroom, it was 7:15. She decided to wake up Marlene and the other girls.

Lily and Marlene were feeling even more separated from Melissa and Nicole now that Nicole was dating Preston from Ravenclaw. It turned out that sitting with the Ravenclaw girls was an effective strategy after all. Melissa did get together with Shawn, but he wasn’t as perfect as she thought and they soon broke up after just one week, although they were still friends. Nicole was always sitting with the Ravenclaws now as her boyfriend was in that house, and Melissa being her best friend, sat with her. Marlene told Lily it was bound to happen, but Lily still couldn’t help but feel bad that they were slowly moving away from each other. 

Marlene claimed that she was over her crush on Remus, but Lily thought something else. Lily believed that Marlene had actually fallen hard for Remus after spending so much time with him during patrols, and she didn’t want to admit that she was smitten with him. She didn’t want to believe that she’d fallen for a guy that thought of her as just friends. Lily understood that that was Marlene’s way of dealing with things and she only hoped Marlene wouldn’t end up hurt. 

Once Marlene, Nicole and Melissa were ready, the four of them walked down to the Great Hall. Lily and Marlene parted with Nicole and Melissa once they entered the Great Hall and they saw that the Marauders were already sitting at the Gryffindor table. Lily smiled; not only had she become great friends with James, but also with Sirius. He was actually quite funny and tolerable if you chose to ignore his sexual jokes. 

The girls walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to the Marauders. Lily sat down next to Sirius today and Marlene sat next to James. They said hello and gathered food on their plates. 

Lily looked at James carefully. There were big purple bags under his hazel eyes and his eyes didn’t look as warm and comforting as they usually did. He had his fork in his hand, not eating anything and his eyes were slowly closing. Once they started to close though, he would open his eyes like he was wide awake. Slowly, this process would repeat and repeat. In three words; James was tired.

“Hey, James. Are you alright?” asked Lily concernedly, looking at him.

“H-huh? Oh, me. Er, yeah I’m fine. Just tired,” he replied.

“Maybe you should get some sleep, you look like you were up all night,” she said.

“Prongs hasn’t slept for nearly three weeks now,” replied Sirius from Lily’s right.

“Why? All because of the nightmares?” asked Lily in a hushed voice.

James nodded solemnly. 

“Why don’t you go to Pomfrey’s and ask for a Dreamless Sleep potion?” asked Lily.

The four boys stared at her like she was a Goddess.

“Lily! You’re a genius!” said Remus.

Lily looked shocked. “You mean you never thought of that on your own?” she asked.

The boys shook their heads. Lily rolled her eyes. “We were too caught up in what the dream contained, not really getting rid of them,” said Sirius, scratching his nose.

“But aren’t they repetitive? Wouldn’t you already know what happens in it?” asked Marlene.

“Yeah, but I can’t figure out why Li—the person keeps getting killed, and why it’s that person in the first place,” said James, frustrated.

“Why don’t you go get the potion today and take off the rest of the day? We have patrols tomorrow,” said Lily, hoping that he wouldn’t miss patrols because he was too tried.

James nodded. “Good idea. Night, mates,” he said standing up slowly.

“James, I could take your patrol for you,” said Remus.

“No! No, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine as long as I sleep. Could you just get some notes for me instead?” he asked. James wanted to do his patrols as much as Lily did.

Remus nodded. “Sure, James. Goodnight,” he said waving.

James smiled weekly as thanks and walked to the Hospital Wing. He could barely keep his eyes open and he tripped a couple times. When he finally got there he knocked on the door and waited impatiently for Madame Pomfrey to open the door.

“Yes? Oh my Mr. Potter! You look horrible!” she exclaimed.

“Thanks,” James grumbled. “Could you possibly give me a Dreamless Sleep potion? As you can see, I haven’t been able to sleep that well,” said James irritably.

“Of course. Just a second,” she said. Pomfrey disappeared for a moment and came back with a potion in her hand. She handed it to James and said, “Now, this potion is enough for 12 hours, be sure to sleep early tonight so you do not oversleep for class tomorrow morning.”

James nodded and said his thanks. There was no way he was going to continue with classes like this. He walked up to Gryffindor tower with a bit of difficulty as his eyes kept closing. 

James made it up to his dormitory and took off his robes. He sat in bed and put his glasses on his night table. He opened the bottle and drank the entire potion in one gulp. He lay down and was instantly asleep. 

…………………………

          _“Stupid boy! Now she dies!” cackled Bellatrix. She pointed her wand at Lily and a flash of green erupted from her wand and hit Lily in the chest._

          “NO!” James sat up on his bed and looked around at the blurry figures frantically, trying to figure out if there was a red-headed girl lying on the floor. Getting dizzy from the blurriness and realizing it was the dream again, James put on his glasses from his night table. He looked around and saw that the sun had gone down. He checked the time and saw that it was 10:30. _That’s why I had the dream. My 12 hours are up._

          

James got up from his bed and rubbed his face. He was still a little tired, but he was sure he’d be fine for patrols the next day. He stretched his arms and walked to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and saw that he still looked tired, but at least he didn’t look like he was sleepwalking. He changed quickly and walked down to the Common Room as his dormitory was empty.

When he walked downstairs, he saw that mostly seventh and sixth years were the only ones still up. He quickly spotted Lily’s red hair sitting across from the fire and joined her. 

“Hey Lily,” he said sitting down across from her.

Lily smiled brightly. “Hey, James! How’re you feeling?” she asked.

James stumbled a bit. Even though they were good friends, Lily’s smile still made his stomach flutter and make him at a loss of words. “F-fine, I guess. I’m still a little tired, but I feel better than before. After all, I slept for fourteen and a half hours,” he said shrugging.

“That’s good. So you’ll be fine for tomorrow night?” she asked hopefully.

James nodded. “I think so,” he replied. 

Lily smiled again and returned to her homework that was on her lap.

James watched her work for a little and decided that he should probably start on his homework too. “Hey Lily? Where is everyone?” he asked.

“Marlene’s upstairs, Remus, Sirius and Peter went down to the Kitchens to get you some food; I figured you’d be hungry once you woke up,” she said looking up from her work.

James nodded and his stomach grumbled. He looked sheepishly at Lily and she laughed. “That’s what I thought,” she said, shaking her head and looking down at her homework again.

“So you told them to go down to the Kitchens?” he asked her.

Lily looked up once again and nodded. “Of course. You can’t go 12 hours without getting hungry. Especially you four boys,” she said laughing again.

James smiled. Her laugh filled his mind and he looked at Lily. The fire was reflecting off her hair and making it shine in different shades of red. Her eyes were shining and sparkling with laughter. She stopped laughing and smiled at James. They just smiled at one another until the portrait door opened.

At first, James and Lily saw no one. Then all of a sudden, out of thin air appeared three pairs of legs and soon after that, the bodies that matched them. There stood Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. The other occupants in the room didn’t seem to notice three boys materialize out of thin air.

“Hey! You’re finally awake Prongs!” said Sirius, eating a piece of chocolate cake and walking over to sit beside James. 

“Yeah. Hey, I thought you were going to get food for me?” he said looking at Sirius.

“Correction. Lily sent down Remus to get food for you, I was there for myself,” replied Sirius with chocolate on his teeth.

Lily laughed at Sirius because he looked as though his teeth were rotting. Remus rolled his eyes and handed James a tuna sandwich and a goblet of Pumpkin juice. 

“Thanks, Moony. Some best friend you are, Padfoot,” said James jokingly.

“Hey, I’m your best friend, not your bloody house elf,” said Sirius, stuffing the last bit of cake into his mouth. 

James rolled his eyes and bit into his sandwich. Remus and Peter sat down as well, Remus was holding James invisibility cloak and Peter was holding the Marauder’s Map. Sirius and Remus started a game of chess as Peter watched, James finished his sandwich and Lily returned to her homework.

“Hey Remus. What do we have for homework?” asked James once he was done eating. 

Remus looked up from his chess game. “Look in my book bag. It’s right there,” he said pointing on the floor beside Lily’s bag. “I wrote down the homework for you. You can use my notes if you need them,” said Remus.

“Thanks,” said James, looking in Remus’ bag for his homework. When he found the paper, James swore. There was homework for every subject James took; about three quarters of it were essays.

James leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Why is there so much homework?” he complained. “It’s only October. And it’s 10:30 on a Monday night. How am I going to get all this done by tomorrow?” he asked.

“Charms and Transfiguration aren’t due until Wednesday,” Lily pointed out to James.

“Those are the two subjects that are easiest for me. All the tough subjects I have to finish tonight!” he shouted.

“Well you slept for a whole day so you should be able to stay up all night,” said Sirius, not looking up from the chess game.

“Yeah, one day of sleeping to make up for three weeks without,” said James, angrily.

“Bad luck, Prongs,” said Peter.

James growled, opened his eyes and sighed. He grabbed the closest book to him and opened it.

Lily, taking pity on the Head Boy, perked up. “Do you want me to help you?” she asked. 

All four boys looked at her. Sirius and Remus were looking at her with her eyebrows raised, Peter looked slightly jealous, like he wanted Lily to help _him_ , and James looked shocked, yet pleased.

“Are you sure, Lily? I mean, I’m going to be practically up all night, won’t you be tired?” he asked.

“Of course I’m sure, James. But, with me helping you, your homework time will be cut in half,” she said teasingly. “Just wait a second, I’m almost done with Potions,” she said.

James nodded and grinned at his friends. Remus smirked back and Sirius was snickering slightly. Peter was looking at James like he was the luckiest man on the world for getting Lily to help him with his homework. James sometimes wondered if Peter had a thing for Lily. Who wouldn’t? (Besides Sirius and Remus; they would never think about liking Lily as James would murder them in their sleep. Peter was really no competition for James.)

“Okay James,” said Lily, closing her books and looking up at James. “What should we get done first?” she asked. 

…………………………

          Four hours later, the two tired Head students had fallen asleep on the couch that they were seated on. Lily’s head was on James shoulder and James arm was around her waist. Suddenly, James jerked awake and Lily was pushed away from him.

          

“W-wha…?” asked Lily, rubbing her eyes.

James stared at Lily. _What? What happened? Why is Lily in my room? Am I having a different dream?_  He thought to himself, very confused. He looked around and saw that he was in the Common Room. _Ahh, I see. We fell asleep in the Common Room. Wait. What?! Me and Lily fell asleep together?! In the Common Room?!_

“W-what happened?” asked Lily yawning.

“Er, we-we fell asleep in the Common Room and I kinda had the dream again and woke up,” said James awkwardly, running his hand through his hair.

Lily stopped moving and looked at James. “We fell asleep? On the same couch?” she asked, her face slowly turning red.

_Uh oh. I’m getting yelled at, for the first time this year,_ thought James.

“Er, yeah…” said James, bracing himself for a slap.

Lily looked away from James, her face red. “Oh,” she said. James thought she sounded a bit embarrassed. 

James was confused. She wasn’t going to yell? _Wait, why would she?_ He thought again. They were friends, right? This wasn’t going to ruin anything was it? 

“Lily, are you okay?” he asked.

“Er, yeah. I’m fine. So we’re all done the homework right?” she asked, still not making eye contact with him.

“Oh. Yeah. We finished.”

“Okay. Good. I think I’ll go to bed then. Goodnight,” she said, gathering her things and walking towards the Girls staircase. 

“Goodnight Lily,” said James. “Oh, and Lily?” he said.

“Yes?” she said, turning around slowly.

“Thanks for helping me with my homework,” he said, smiling at her. 

“Oh, no problem, James,” she said turning back towards the stairs. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” said James. 

He sat back down on the couch that they had fallen asleep on and sighed happily. He loved the feeling of being so close to Lily, even though it was such a short period of time. He knew though, that later on, this would torture him. He would feel incredibly sad that he wasn’t around her when he with the Marauders; not that spending time with the Marauders wasn’t enjoyable, just none of them were girls. He knew that being Lily’s friend would make him feel even worse than he did before they were friends, but he decided that he would just savour the moment before the darkness crept over.

…………………………

          

Lily put a hand to her hot face as she ran up the stairs to her dorm. She was embarrassed that she had fallen asleep on _James’ shoulder_. She stopped in front of her dorm door and leaned against the wall. She sighed happily. She tried not to think about it because it would leave her wanting more like when she had the dream about them dancing together. She shook her head and composed herself. She felt her face return to the normal colour and she opened the door to her dormitory.

Marlene, Nicole and Melissa were all sitting on their beds staring at Lily when she walked in. When she noticed they were all staring at her, she blushed again and mumbled a hello.

“Where have you been, Missy?” asked Marlene in a teasing voice. 

“Your curfew is 11:00 and 1:30 on patrol nights,” said Melissa in a motherly sort of voice. 

“You know that it is dangerous to be out on your own, darling. I’m disappointed in you,” said Nicole, shaking her head.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Thanks for your concern.”

The three girls burst out laughing and Lily rolled her eyes again.

“So, where have you been? Off with James?” asked Marlene, smirking at her.

Lily blushed again. “No, what would make you say that?” she asked, faking innocence.

“Come on, Lily. We all know you two are friends now. And you wouldn’t be blushing so hard if you were with anyone else,” said Nicole.

Lily didn’t make eye contact. She shuffled to her bed and put her bag on the floor. She changed into her pyjamas. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said in a flustered voice.

“Lily, stop denying it and just tell us what happened,” said Melissa.

Lily sat on her bed and looked at them. “Fine…” she said. The three remaining girls started smiling. “I was helping him with homework,” she answered _somewhat_ honestly.

“That’s it? Or is that some kind of code meaning you were snogging in a broom closet?” asked Marlene.

Lily glared at her. “We were not snogging in a broom closet, Marlene. I was just helping him with his homework,” she said, angry that her best friend would suggest such a thing.

“Sorry, Lily. Just teasing,” she said, giving her a cheeky grin.

“Are you sure that’s it?” asked Nicole, curious.

“Of course that’s it,” said Lily, her face tingeing pink.

The three girls gave her looks.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Fine, something else happened…” she started.

“And…?” asked Melissa.

“And…we kind of feel asleep on the couch…together.”

No answer.

“See? Nothing, right?” said Lily.

“What kind of position were you two in?” asked Marlene furrowing her eyebrows. 

“Marlene, must you assume that every time James and I are alone together, that we do sexual things?” asked Lily, exasperated and annoyed.

“Sorry, Lils. It’s just the way you said it. ‘On the couch…together,’” Marlene replied.

“To answer your question, no, we were not in any kind of inappropriate position. I think my head was on his shoulder,” said Lily.

“You think?” asked Nicole, confused.

“Yeah, I think. He sort of woke up suddenly and I was kind of pushed away,” said Lily.

“He just woke up suddenly?” asked Melissa. 

“Sort of, he had a dream,” said Lily, glancing at Marlene. Nicole and Melissa still didn’t know about the dream or about the nightly discovery. Marlene understood and nodded.

“Aww, that’s so cute. You two fell asleep together,” said Melissa, changing the subject. 

Lily blushed. 

“I wish Preston was in Gryffindor, I want to fall asleep on a couch with him. Wouldn’t that be so romantic?” said Nicole, her eyes misting over and losing focus. 

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Whenever she’s not around Preston, she goes into her daydreaming mode 80% of the time and talking to a brick wall can be more eventful,” she said, obviously experiencing this many times.

Marlene and Lily laughed and continued talking without Nicole. 

“So, how was it?” Marlene asked Lily.

“How was what?” responded Lily, clearly confused at what she was talking about. 

“You know, sleeping with James,” said Marlene, winking at Lily.

“Marly, I am extremely annoyed with your sexual jokes, you know. You’re almost as bad as Sirius,” said Lily, rolling her eyes.

“HAHAHA. Good one, Lily. But, you never answered my question,” said Marlene.

“Fine. It was…comfortable. I felt safe, I guess. And warm,” said Lily.

“All that from just your head on his shoulder?” asked Nicole, coming out of her trance.

Lily thought for a while. Nicole was right. There must have been something else for her to have felt so warm. Lily tried to remember their exact position. 

“I don’t know, maybe his arm was around my shoulder or something,” said Lily.

Marlene walked over to her bed and sat down. She put her arm on Lily’s shoulder. 

“What are you doing?” asked Lily, staring confusedly at her best friend.

“Trying to re-act the situation. Is this what it felt like?” asked Marlene.

“Marly, I am complying because I question your sanity and take pity on you,” replied Lily, slowly falling into Marlene’s arm.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, just try and remember what it felt like,” replied Marlene, rolling her eyes.

Nicole and Melissa were laughing lightly at the sight of their two friends.

“So, is this what it felt like?” asked Marlene.

“Awkward and embarrassing? No,” replied Lily.

“Lily, come on. Take this seriously.”

“Fine,” said Lily. She thought for a moment. 

“No, I don’t think this is it,” she replied finally.

“Forgive me for this Lily, but…” said Marlene, putting her arm around Lily’s waist. 

“Whoaa. Marly, you’re my best friend and everything, but I love you like a _sister_.”

“LILY! Stop! Please just try to remember.”

“Okay, fine.” She tried to imagine that Marlene was James. His scent was missing and so was the warmth only his body had, but it felt about right. Lily sighed.

“Yup. This is it,” said Lily.

Marlene pulled away her arm. “Okay, so we got that determined,” she said, getting up from Lily’s bed. “Sorry about that Lily, I was just trying to help you remember,” said Marlene. “You’ll thank me later,” she said.

“Alright. Just promise me you won’t do that again,” said Lily. 

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t plan to,” Marlene replied, holding her hands out in front of her. 

Lily nodded. So James’ arm was around her waist then? Could it be that she just wanted to believe that she was that close to him? _Nah, it felt right. It was right._

“So, now what?” asked Melissa.

“What do you mean?” replied Lily.

“What are you going to do about the James’ situation?” clarified Nicole.

Lily shrugged. “Just pretend like nothing happened and go back to normal. I’ll just keep waiting until he asked me out,” said Lily.

“But, Lily. What if James is tired of being rejected? What is he’s scared you will just say no again because if you do, his heart would actually break? What if he doesn’t want to lose your friendship by asking you out if you only want to stay friends?” Marlene asked her.

Lily stared at her. “Do you actually think that he’s tired of being rejected? Was I that harsh on him that he might not want to take chances anymore? Oh, no! What if I scared him off?!” said Lily, starting to hyperventilate.

“Lily, Lily. Calm down. Marly didn’t mean it like that,” said Melissa, glaring at Marlene. “What she was _trying_ to say is that maybe it’s your turn to take chances. She’s saying that James loves you even more than he did in the previous years, and if you rejected him this time, it would affect him more than it did before. Maybe James wants you to ask _him_ out this time, just to make sure that you’re not just saying yes to him because you felt sorry for him. I know it’s different for you, but a relationship involves both people taking chances, not just the male,” said Melissa.

Lily nodded at her and gave her a hug. “Thank you so much, Mel,” she said, letting go of her. Then she moved to Nicole. “Thanks to you too,” she said giving her a hug. Finally, she moved towards Marlene. “Marly, thank you,” said Lily, giving her best friend a fierce hug. “I’m sorry for always freaking out on you all the time, thanks for putting up with me,” she said.

“No problem, Lily. I’m sorry for all the jokes and comments. It’s all in good fun,” said Marlene, letting go.

Lily smiled. “I know. I’m just touchy with the James subject,” said Lily sheepishly.

Marlene rolled her eyes. “Don’t I know it.”

The four girls laughed. This was one of their fullest conversations they’d had since Nicole starting dating Preston. The four girls were oblivious of the time as they talked well into the morning. 

**Is that someone reviewing? Yes, you, who is reading this right now. No? Oh, well then it's someone who is planning on reviewing, right? RIGHT.**

**Gracias <3**


	13. Toilet Bowls

**Chapter 13: Toilet Bowls**

          James had not slept well that night. Big surprise there. The most he slept that night was on the couch with Lily. If he didn’t have that cursed dream, they would probably be on the couch still and James would have gotten a bit more sleep. James sighed as he got out of his bed and rubbed his eyes. They were bloodshot and stinging. At least he had the patrols that night to look forward to. 

          

Sirius was snoring loudly. It was still 7:30. _Hmm,_ James thought to himself, _maybe it’s time to try out that little experiment._ He quickly woke up Remus and Peter and explained the plan. They both were enthusiastic about it and helped James change the clocks to show 8:15. Of course, they kept their watches to the right time so that they could later change them back. Sirius never wore a watch; he said he was too cool for one and that he could just ask nerds like Remus. Remus and James were both deeply offended; Remus because he was called a nerd by his friend and James because Sirius didn’t consider him ‘cool’ because he wore a watch.

“Hey Sirius! Wake up! Veronica’s waiting downstairs!” shouted James.

The effect had faded a bit, but it was still fairly affective. Sirius no longer leapt out of bed, but his head jerked up instead, with his eyes still closed. This fast action would usually give him a neck cramp, but really, James had no sympathy for his best mate. 

“Wha time’s it?” he asked groggily, sitting up in his bed.

“8:15, mate,” answered Remus.

“Weird, it feels much earlier,” Sirius said, checking the clock.

Peter giggled like a little school girl. James and Remus shot him an annoyed look.

“Why you laughing, Pete?” asked Sirius.

“Oh, er. No reason. My…er—”

“His robes are tickling him,” replied James, before Peter could say anything that would give away their plan.

Sirius looked at James strangely and sat up on his bed. “His _robes_ are tickling him?” he asked, looking for clarification. 

Remus and James nodded. “Yeah. His robes,” replied Remus, giving James a look. James shrugged back.

“Okay,” said Sirius, looking between his three friends. “Well, I’m going to take a shower now, good luck with your robes, Pete.” He rose from his bed walked to his trunk. On his way there, he stubbed his toe on Remus’ bedpost.

“OW!” cried Sirius, grabbing his now swollen, red toe. A stream of colourful language ran from his mouth cursing both Remus and his bed for moving in his way. James, Remus and Peter were all baffled that bad luck was already befalling on their mate. _Just a coincidence,_ thought James, confused. 

When Sirius had stopped cursing, he gathered his things and headed for the bathroom. He opened the door quite forcefully and slammed it right onto his other big toe. This caused another flurry of swear words to come exploding out of Sirius mouth and a cry of rage. 

“James. ARE YOU SURE IT’S PAST EIGHT?” asked Sirius, very red in the face and holding both his feet. 

James nodded numbly, hardly believing his eyes. Did Sirius ACTUALLY have bad luck if he woke up before 8:00? What a strange…what do you call this?

Sirius grumbled and stormed into the bathroom. He slammed the door and the three mates could distinctively hear a resounding “OW!” followed by more curses coming from behind the bathroom door. They did not want to know what could have possibly happened this time.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” said Peter.

“Nonsense. It’s just a coincidence,” said James, somewhat confidently.

“Er, knowing Sirius, it probably isn’t. All his days seem to be good besides the ones he spends at his house, but that’s understandable. Everyone has their bad days, James. Mine are during the full moon, his are when he gets up before eight,” said Remus shrugging. 

“But, Moony! How is that possible? How can all the bad things possibly go wrong all in the same day? How does that work out?” asked James.

“Don’t know, Prongs. It’s the Magical world. What isn’t possible?” said Remus, getting ready for class.

“There are lots of things that aren’t possible in the Magical world. For example, it is impossible to bring back the dead. Second, it is impossible to reverse lycanthropy. It is impossible for me to get any sleep with these bloody dreams. It is impossible that Lucius Malfoy will marry a Muggle-born girl. It is impossible for Dumbledore to join the Dark side. It is impossible—”

“OKAY JAMES. I get it. There are _some_ things that are impossible, I understand. What I meant was that there is a possibility that Sirius might actually have bad luck before 8 in the morning!” said Remus, rolling his eyes.

“Whatever you say, Moony. But by the end of today, I will prove you wrong, just you watch,” James replied. He was half convinced that he was right.

“Alright. I bet you two galleons that Sirius will have bad luck for the rest of the day,” said Remus, sticking out his hand.

“Two? How about five?” challenged James. He was always the confident one.

“Done.” The two boys shook hands. 

Just as the boys let go of each other’s hands, Sirius walked out of the bathroom muttering. They all stared at him, trying to see if more bad luck would fall upon their friend.

Sirius, noticing their staring, looked at them. “WHAT ARE YOU LOT STARING AT?! WHAT IS GOING ON! I SWEAR I WILL FIND OUT BY THE END OF THE DAY!” he shouted. Obviously something bad had happened while he was taking a shower, as he was in a fouler mood than when he entered. James cringed at the thought of what could have happened. 

The three boys looked away and resumed getting ready. So far, they had been able to keep up the act and now the clocks read 8:30 when it was only 7:45. 

The three boys were watching Sirius from the corner of their eyes as he struggled with his hair. He had one flick of hair that was sticking up and was placed in a nice cowlick at the top of his head. He patted it down only to have it stick up again a few seconds later. Remus was shaking with silent laughter as he was now winning the bet against James. James found it extremely funny, but couldn’t enjoy it as he might be five galleons poorer. 

After Sirius repeated the process of flattening his hair many times, he growled in rage and grabbed the gel bottle. He squeezed some on his hand and fiercely rubbed it through his hair. To his surprise and the rest of the Marauders’, Sirius hair now stuck up in every direction, much like James’. Sirius grabbed the gel bottle and read the label.

“LEATHER CLEANER? WHO DOES THIS BLOODY BELONG TOO?! AND WHY THE HELL IS IT ON MY DRESSER WHERE MY GEL USUALLY IS?!” Sirius bellowed. 

James and Remus gulped and pointed to Peter. Peter whimpered and cowered into a corner. Sirius looked even more intimidating with his hair sticking up in every direction. They had never seen Sirius with James’ hairstyle because his hair was ALWAYS perfect.  James and Remus usually always defended Peter, but when Sirius was in his angry mood, it was every Marauder for himself. 

“PETER! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DOING HERE!” asked the enraged Sirius, holding up the bottle. 

“I-I was-s c-cleaning m-m-my s-shoes…” stuttered Peter.

“CLEANING YOUR GODDAMN SHOES? HOW WOULD YOU BLOODLY LIKE IT IF I PUT LEATHER CLEANER IN YOUR HAIR?” said Sirius.

“N-not v-v-very much…Sirius, s-s-sir,” he replied, looking like he wanted to melt through the walls.

“ARGH! YOU SON OF A—” 

“Enough, Sirius!” shouted Remus. “It was an honest mistake. Don’t murder Peter over this. You’re just having a bad day, Sirius. You have to calm down,” said Remus, restraining Sirius as he was trying to move towards Peter. 

Peter was now whimpering behind James like he was some sort of protection. James pushed him away from him and told him to get a grip. Sirius quickly washed his hair in the sink and left his annoying cow lick at the top of his head. 

The Marauders went down to breakfast while it was more that half way through and Sirius did not seem to realise that they were supposed to be in class according to the time. The boys went to sit with Lily and Marlene.

          “Hey Lily, Marlene,” James said.

          “Hey, James. Sirius you look horrible and since when do you wake up at—,” 

James shook his head urgently at Lily and she instantly caught on. It was the experimentation day. She quickly tried to cover her mistake.

“I mean since when do you…er…not do your hair in the morning?” she tried lamely. 

Sirius glared at her and patted his head self consciously. He sat down and started piling his food gloomily onto his plate.

James smiled apologetically at Lily and followed Sirius by putting food onto his plate. “He’s not having a good day so far,” he whispered to her.

Lily held in a laugh and ate her food. Marlene was wondering what was going on with Sirius and what James and Lily knew about it. She raised an eyebrow at Lily who was giggling slightly and stuffing food into her mouth at the same time.

Meanwhile, Sirius was pouring maple syrup onto his pancakes. Peter decided that he wanted an apple from Sirius’ other side. While he was reaching over, his arm hit Sirius and the maple syrup bottle was pushed away from his plate and into Sirius’ lap. The six Gryffindors sat there staring at the maple syrup pouring out into Sirius lap until Remus had enough sense to take it out of Sirius’ hand and put it safely on the table. Sirius sat staring down into his lap until he looked over at Peter, face strangely calm. 

Peter started whimpering again, though this time, he was disturbed by Sirius’ strange calmness and not his raging anger. 

“Peter, do you know what is in my lap at the current moment?” asked Sirius, voice and face still neutral.

“M-m-maple s-syrup?” replied Peter, looking around at the others to see who would come to his rescue. There was no reply from anyone.

“And do you know what qualities maple syrup has, Peter?” Sirius asked him again.

“I-it’s b-brown?” tried Peter.

“Yes. And it is sticky. Very sticky. Is sticky comfortable, Peter?” 

“N-no?” 

“Correct. Do you know what I do when someone makes me uncomfortable, Peter?” asked Sirius, slowly raising his wand.

Peter shook his head, slowly cowering under Sirius’ calm gaze.

Remus and James sensing trouble began to rise out of their seats to prepare themselves for a battle. 

“I hex—”

“STOP,” said James, grabbing Sirius’ wand from his hand. “Sirius, it was an accident. Remus can clean your robes for you. Right, Remus?” 

Remus nodded and did a quick cleaning charm to remove all the maple syrup from Sirius lap. 

Sirius growled. “Well, that rat seems to be having a lot of accidents, doesn’t he?” he said, glaring at Peter. 

Peter was so far down into his seat, he was practically on the floor. James rolled his eyes at his cowardly friend and pulled him back onto his seat and ignored Sirius’ comment. Remus was smirking at James, knowing that he was winning and James was narrowing his eyes back. 

As the situation had ended, the seventh years resumed to their breakfast. Marlene looked down on her lap just in case Sirius poured some syrup onto her as well as he was sitting beside her. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Lily burst out laughing. Her face was red like she had been holding her breath for some time and she was almost in tears. Everyone looked at her confusedly and James was the only one who understood her sudden outburst. She continued laughing for two minutes straight and everyone was still staring at her. She noticed everyone’s eyes on her and she blushed. 

“Haha…sorry everyone, carry on,” she said wiping her eyes and laughing quietly.

“What’s going on here? What is with everyone? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?” asked Sirius, losing his calm demeanour.

The whole Gryffindor table turned to stare at them. When they saw Sirius’ red face and angry expression, their curiosity spiked. 

“Why is everyone staring at me like I’m going to drop dead? Why are these bad things happening to be when I woke up after eight? WHAT IS GOING ON?! SOMEONE ANSWER ME!” he shouted, now standing up.

Remus looked around and noticed the staring and wide eyes. He quickly pulled Sirius onto the bench and swiftly put a silencing charm on his friend. Sirius opened his mouth to scream again and found no sound coming out. He looked at Remus and started moving his lips in quick motion. Remus was sure that ¾ of the words Sirius was saying were curses. 

Sirius reached into his pocket to pull out his wand, but James waved it in his face. 

“Ah, ah, ah, Sirius. No foul play. Remus did that for your own good,” said James. He moved the wand out of Sirius’ reach as Sirius made a swipe for it. Then Remus dodged skilfully as Sirius made a swipe for his head. Frustrated, Sirius banged his hands onto the table and the orange juice pitcher fell on the table, pouring onto the one and only, Sirius Black. 

…………………………

          The rest of the day proved to be very unlucky for Sirius. He was given a detention from Professor Gripul in Defence Against the Dark Arts for not answering a question because Remus had forgotten to take the silencing charm off of him. If looks could kill, Remus would be long gone. 

          

Peter seemed to be having a bad day as well because he seemed to be the main cause of damage in Sirius’ day. He would accidentally knock something over or trip and cause something to go flying in Sirius’ direction. James and Remus continually had to stop Sirius from pouncing on their small friend. 

The only one who seemed to be enjoying their day was Remus. He was finding this experiment extremely funny and was thanking James for his brilliant idea. “It was actually Lily’s,” James would grumble as a reply. Remus would laugh anyways and then start to count off different ways he could use five galleons. 

Much to the relief of the Marauders, the day was finally over and the seventh years were sitting in the Common Room finishing homework or playing chess. 

Sirius was sulking in a chair and playing with the hem of his robes. He was even ignoring flirtatious winks from girls on the other side of the room. Remus was playing chess with Peter who was nervously glancing over at Sirius to make sure he wasn’t going to attack him at any moment. Marlene was humming a song as she finished one of her essays. James and Lily were trying to distract themselves from acting overly excited for their patrol that night. 

Finally, the time came for Lily and James to start their patrol. They said goodbye to their tired friends and walked out of the Gryffindor Common Room. 

The beginning of their patrol was a bit awkward as it was their first time alone together since the situation in the Common Room the night before. They didn’t say a word. It had been a long time since they had an uncomfortable patrol.

“So, today was experimentation day?” asked Lily, finally breaking the ice.

“Yeah. I was up early again so I decided that it would be today,” said James.

“You don’t seem too happy, and Sirius didn’t seem like he was enjoying it either,” she said giggling.

James smiled at her laughter. “I bet Remus that Sirius was not really unlucky before eight and that it was all in his head. I lost five galleons,” replied James.

Lily laughed again. “Aww. Poor James,” she cooed.

James nodded. “I was convinced it was all in his head. Where did I go wrong?” said James. He furrowed his eyebrows, thinking about the situation. 

Lily laughed at the adorable face James was making. “Haha, you look really cute like that,” she said. She froze. _BLIMEY! Did I say that out loud?_

James seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Lily and stared at her, surprised. “What?”

Lily blushed. Yup, she said it out loud. “Oh, um. You know, you look like a little kid thinking really hard,” she said to sort of explain herself. 

James raised an eyebrow. “Thanks?” he said uncertainly.

Lily blushed again and nodded. She was so embarrassed. She acted like a complete fool. _Oh, Merlin. What must James think of me? Stupid, Stupid, Stupid._

“You look cute all flustered like that,” said James, mockingly.

Lily glared at him and continued walking. Her face was burning and she was pretty sure that it could fry an egg. She thanked Merlin that it was dark and he couldn’t see the full effect he had on her. 

They continued walking and the awkward silences resumed their patrol. James was searching his mind for something to talk about.

“Hey, you want to check the Marauder’s Map to see if Malfoy and Bellatrix are out tonight?” asked James.

“Sure! Can I open the map?” Lily asked like a child on Christmas. James had told her that she would be able to one day, but she hadn’t got to yet. 

James rolled her eyes at Lily’s eagerness but he smiled. “Hmm…lemme think,” he started. He saw Lily’s pleading eyes and nodded. “Fine, I guess you can,” said James sighing. 

Lily whooped and got out her wand. James handed her the parchment and she whispered, “I solemnly swear I’m up to no good.”

Soon the map had unfolded before her and she looked over it to see any signs of the two Slytherin seventh years. She first checked the Slytherin Common Room and dormitories. “They’re not in the Common Room!” she declared in an excited whisper. James came over to look at the map to help find the destination of Malfoy and Bellatrix. 

James scanned the popular places where the two Slytherins could be: the Kitchens, the Prefect’s Bathroom, the Great Hall, he even checked the Astronomy tower just in case Malfoy was cheating on Narcissa with her sister; with Malfoy, you never knew. Then he and Lily checked the main hallways and the seventh floor corridor, where they had heard seen Malfoy and Bellatrix last. They were not there. Finally, James looked in all the small areas where Lily would not see as easily. There, in a little crevice on the fourth floor corridor, he found Malfoy, Bellatrix, Lestrange, Rosier and Dolohov. It was the same bunch of Slytherins as the night Lily and Bellatrix duelled, with the exception of Snape. James pointed it out to Lily and she looked at him.

“There are five of them. What are we going to do?” she asked. 

“We won’t appear to them. I have my invisibility cloak, so we’ll just hide out. We’re just looking for some more information, not a fight,” James said. 

Lily nodded and waited patiently as James pulled out his invisibility cloak from his large robe pocket. They both got under it and were forced to stand and walk close together. They walked side by side and both found it extremely hard to be so close to one another without any contact.

Five minutes previous, James felt very tired. Now, he was wide awake, but he felt slightly drowsy at the close proximity to Lily. James would accidentally brush Lily’s hand while they were walking to the fourth floor and he would blush slightly and pretend like it didn’t happen. _Potter, you’re acting like a love-sick fool. Get a grip,_ he told himself. He would glance over at Lily and notice that she looked completely calm except the determination shining in her eyes.

James didn’t even know why he kept snooping around like this. The dreams were enough to drive him to the loony bin. He knew that if he found out any more information about what Malfoy and Bellatrix’s mission was, it would be goodbye to his bed, period. But, even though he would be losing sleep, he still felt curious and he felt the need to do something to stop whatever they were doing. He felt the need to correct all the wrongdoings and evil that was occurring in his school and he wanted to catch them in the act. He guessed it was because both his parents were renowned aurors who made a living on righting wrongs and catching Death Eaters. 

Lily’s hand on his arm brought him out of his thoughts. Actually, it was more like shocked him out of his thoughts, but who cares. He looked at her and saw her pointing to a spot ahead of them. He looked to where Lily was pointing and saw the seventh year Slytherins. James motioned for Lily to move over a little indent in the wall so if the Slythirins decided to move on, they wouldn’t get trampled and discovered.

“Well, have you found anything?” asked Malfoy impatiently.

Rosier and Dolohov glanced at each other. “Well, we aren’t exactly clear on what you want us to look for,” said Dolohov uncertainly.

“We can’t give you any more information than what we gave you already. The Dark Lord entrusted this mission with me and if you cannot deliver, that is too bad indeed,” Malfoy replied back.

“No, no. We can do it,” said Rosier, nodding his head. 

“Very well then; split up. Rodolphus, go with Evan and Antonin. Bellatrix, come with me,” said Malfoy, walking in the direction of James and Lily.

“How come you get to order around everyone? Why can’t I go with Bella?” asked Lestrange, upset.

“Because the Dark Lord ordered me the leader of this mission. Its success lies with my actions so I make the orders,” snarled Malfoy.

Bellatrix smiled. “Don’t worry Rodolphus darling, Lucius is nothing to me. I am still yours,” she said, stroking his arm. James almost vomited and he could see Lily making a face of disgust beside him.

Rodolphus smiled dreamily at Bellatrix; Rosier and Dolohov looked away. Malfoy appeared as disgusted as James and Lily.

“Now, get a move on! The sooner we find it, the sooner we can stop sneaking around the school like a bunch of marauders,” said Malfoy. 

James was insulted. Malfoy had compared himself to a Marauder. James didn’t know what Malfoy was smoking, but James was sure that Malfoy would NEVER become a Marauder. First, he was a Slytherin. Enough said. Second, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all hated him. Third, he was way too loud to be a Marauder and would always be caught. He was worse than Peter, and that was saying something. Finally, he was blond; it would clash. Blond was just…not Marauder-ish. 

The Slytherins parted and Lily moved towards Rosier, Dolohov and Lestrange. James assumed it was because they would be less careful in mentioning something that would be important for their snooping. 

“So, where do you reckon we’ll find this…object?” asked Rosier.

“Don’t know. It could be anywhere, after it’s has to be something related to the Hogwarts founders, right?” replied Dolohov.

James and Lily looked at each other, confusion on both their faces. _Something related to the founders? What could Voldemort possibly want with something like that?_

They continued following the three Slytherins as they looked for possible objects. So far, they hadn’t learned much.

“So what do you think the Dark Lord wants with it?” asked Dolohov.

“Don’t know. That git, Malfoy probably doesn’t even know. ‘Leader of this mission’ my arse. He just likes bossing people around like a huge pompous prat,” snarled Lestrange with hostility in his voice at the other boy. 

James could tell that Lily was holding back her laughter with some difficulty. James was staring disbelievingly at Lestrange. Was it possible that he was a little _envious_ of said pompous prat?

Rodolphus was now walking a little ahead of the other two. Lily couldn’t hold it in anymore; she let out a little giggle. Rodolphus stopped. 

“Which one of you giggled like a girl?” asked Rodolphus, disturbed that his friends would make such a noise. 

Rosier and Dolohov stared at each other. They pointed to each other.

“It was him,” they both said at the same time. 

Lestrange looked between the two of them. 

“No, really. Who was it?” he asked, annoyed.

The two other boys shrugged. “It wasn’t me,” they said in unison once again. 

Rodolphus eyed them strangely and dropped it. “Fine, but if you do it again, I’ll hex you,” he said, raising his wand. The two boys shrugged once more, but looking at the other with eyebrows raised, questioning why the other had giggled and denied it. 

James and Lily let out a breath at the same time. James pulled her arm in the direction of the seventh floor. He checked his watch; it was 12:45. He figured that they would not be able to find out anymore information out of these trolls and it would just be a waste of time. James checked the Marauder’s Map quickly to make sure that they were alone and that there were no more students out of bed before they went took off the invisibility cloak. Deciding to finish early, they walked up to Gryffindor tower.

Once James and Lily were in the Gryffindor Common Room, they began talking.

“So, what do you think they’re looking for?” asked Lily, sitting down in her favourite armchair. James sat across from her so they could talk comfortably. 

“Like they said, it could be anything,” said James.

“What do you think he wants with it?” 

James sighed. “I have no idea. This is really pointless, we can’t really figure out anything without actually interrogating them,” said James.

Lily nodded. “Do you think we should wake up the others?” she asked.

James thought for a moment. “I’m not sure it’s worth it. We didn’t really find out anything worthy of waking them up at this hour, and I’m pretty sure Sirius already had a tough day,” said James. He cringed at the thought of what Sirius would do to him if he ever found out what James had done. 

“Alright then. I guess we should go to bed then?” said Lily. She sounded reluctant.

James nodded. “Yeah. Goodnight, Lily,” he said. 

“Goodnight, James,” she replied. Lily smiled at him and walked towards the stairs. When he could no longer see her, he walked up to his dormitory expecting to see his three friends sleeping. 

“Hello, James. Peter told me a funny story while you were off patrolling tonight,” said Sirius when James walked into the dormitory. James gulped and looked at Peter with an accusatory look. He squeaked and smiled weakly at James who scowled.

“So, care to explain yourself, _mate?_ ” asked Sirius, now standing up.

James gulped again. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Padfoot,” said James, backing up against the wall.

“You don’t? You mean it was my other best mate named James who tricked me into believing that it was past eight in the morning and giving me one of the worst days of my life?” said Sirius, slowly walking towards James.

“W-what? Padfoot, you have to understand, I did it to prove to you—”

“Prove to me that I actually have bad days? That I can not wake up before eight? Huh? Is that what you were trying to prove?” Sirius didn’t exactly sound angry, but James guessed that was only because he had been angry the whole day and just ran out of gas.

“No. I was _trying_ to prove to you that it was all in your head and that it’s impossible to determine your day based on the time you woke up—”

“Oh, but you proved me RIGHT and you were WRONG. Right, James?”

“Yes, but—this was also Remus and Peter’s doing! They were my accomplices!” said James, pointing at them.

“Oh, don’t worry James. They got their punishment as well,” said Sirius.

“No, no. Come on, Sirius. Padfoot, buddy, come on! You don’t want to, I know you; you don’t want to do this,” tried James feebly. Sirius was now preparing his wand. “Hey! Look at it this way! At least I will never wake you up before eight!” said James.

“You should of thought about that before, James,” said Sirius. “ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ” shouted Sirius. James was instantly turned into a stiff board. Sirius levitated him towards the bathroom, Remus and Peter following. 

“I saw this in a Muggle moobie, or whatever they’re called,” said Sirius, talking to the immobile James.

“It’s a _movie,_ Sirius,” said Remus, rolling his eyes. 

“Whatever. Movie, moobie, same thing,” said Sirius, swatting his hand. “Anyways, James. Here is your punishment,” he said pointing to the toilet. Sirius’ didn’t seem angry anymore, but satisfied. 

James tried to look confused but his face was as hard as stone. A toilet? Was he going to make him sit on it for a long time or something?

“No, Jamesie. I’m not going to make you sit on it for a long time,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes and reading James’ eyes. Again James was confused, but couldn’t show it. “I’m going to give you a _swirlie_ ,” said Sirius grinning.

Remus and Peter both shuddered severely. “A swirlie, James, is when I put your head in the toilet and…” said Sirius, flushing the toilet. James wanted to protest; kick, scream, punch, bite, but couldn’t. Damn him.

“Don’t worry James, it’s really harmless. Look at Remus and Pete. They’re fine, see? I won’t let you drown or anything,” said Sirius, binding James with ropes. He undid the full body bind and James immediately started shouting.

“SIRIUS! STOP! I SAID SORRY! PLEASE PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THE SWIRLIE!” he shouted. 

“No, James. You, Remus and Peter all get what you deserve. It’ll only be two flushes, calm down,” said Sirius in a sort of motherly voice. He started to lower James’ head closer to the toilet bowl. James’ eyes widened and he was helpless as Sirius’ hand was clasped firmly into his hair. Remus carefully removed James’ glasses and placed them on the counter beside them.

“Sirius! Please stop! You don’t want to do this! I—,” James was cut off as his head hit the water. He closed his eyes and mouth as his head was plunged into the toilet. Then, he felt Sirius move behind him and felt the water around his head swirling and moving across his face. He heard the swishing noise and closed his eyes tighter. James’ hair was being thrown around; it was getting a little too close to the hole at the bottom of the toilet for James’ liking. Then, suddenly, it was over.

“So, Jamesie. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” asked Sirius, pulling James’ head out and grinning like a fool.

James was coughing and shaking the water out of his eyes. Sirius laughed and moved James towards the toilet bowl once more.

“S-Sirius, you bastard!” James managed to get out.

Sirius laughed again. “Shoulda thought of that before, Jamesie Boy!” and James’ head was back in the water.

At least he knew what to expect now. _Oh, Sirius is getting a detention for this,_ thought James.

Sirius brought James back up from the water. “So, James. You’ve learned your lesson right?” James nodded. “And you know never to wake me up before eight, correct?” He nodded again. “And, you will not attack me when I unbind you, right?” James thought for a moment, but eventually nodded. “Good,” said Sirius, undoing the ropes.

James grabbed a towel and dried his face. His hair was still dripping so he took his wand and dried it instantly. He put on his glasses and ran his hand through his hair. Then, he pointed to Sirius. “Detention this Saturday with…Filch for attacking the Head Boy,” said James triumphantly.

“What? James! That’s not fair, come on!” said Sirius, whining.

“Shoulda thought of that before, Sirius, m’boy!” mimicked James, wagging a finger at him.

Sirius pouted and slouched onto his bed. He was muttering under his breath and James heard the words ‘wanker’, ‘Flich’ and ‘bastard’. James chuckled and turned to Peter. 

“YOU! Why did you tell him?” asked James.

“Sorry, mate. It kind of slipped out,” said Peter, sitting down on his bed as well.

James scowled. “Whatever. You got your punishment,” said James, changing out of his robes.

“Hey, Prongs! You owe me five galleons!” shouted Remus.

James stopped moving. “Damn. I hoped you forgot about that,” muttered James. He reluctantly got the five galleons and tossed them over to Remus. 

“Hey, why does Moony get money? What about Padfoot?” Sirius asked, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to be mad at James.

“Remus won a bet. He gets money,” answered James.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. “A bet about what?”

“You,” said James.

Sirius started muttering again. It sounded a lot like ‘Who bloody bets on their own mate? Arses.’

James went into bed and checked the clock; 1:53. Merlin, he was tired. He took of his glasses and called goodnight to his mates. He closed his eyes and surprisingly didn’t find the haunting images in his mind. Satisfied that they would not appear, James drifted off into a dreamless sleep. 

**Please Review...Thanks :)**


	14. Unexpected News

**Chapter 14: Unexpected News**

          Lily woke up really early the day after her patrols. She got up from her bed and looked out of the window. She watched as the sun slowly rose and reflecting off the lake. The leaves in the Forbidden Forest had turned to the colours of autumn and were gradually falling to the floor. She sighed. Autumn was her favourite season. It made everything look beautiful and warm. It held Halloween, the first Hogsmeade weekend and usually the first Quidditch game. It was when the students of Hogwarts would be getting used to school and Lily would start to settle back into her home. 

          

As the sun was now up, Lily checked the time. It was just nearing seven in the morning. She went into her normal routine and woke up Marlene. She quickly told her about last night before Nicole and Melissa woke up. Marlene and Lily chatted quickly about what they could be looking for, some kind of relic of the four founders and if they should tell Dumbledore of their discovery. When they were finished talking, Nicole woke up from her slumber.

“Morning, girls,” she said yawning and stretching her arms out.

“Morning,” replied Lily and Marlene. The three girls woke up their remaining roommate and got ready. When they were done, they went downstairs to see the four Marauders waiting for them. 

“Morning girls,” said James, smiling up at the descending seventh years. 

“Hey, boys. You look better James,” said Marlene.

“Thanks,” he replied.

“Why, what was wrong with James?” asked Melissa, looking between everybody.

“Oh, just wasn’t feeling well,” he replied.

Lily smiled at James and they all walked down to breakfast together. 

“So, didn’t have a dream tonight, James?” whispered Lily, falling behind the group to talk to James alone.

“Yea, it was weird. I would think that they would get worse after last night, but surprisingly, I didn’t have any that I can remember,” James whispered back. 

Lily thought about this. It was strange. Why all of a sudden would the dreams stop? What would cause it? “Well, as long as you’re getting sleep now, I guess we can’t complain,” said Lily, shrugging. It was true, James looked so much better now that he didn’t have purple bags underneath his tired eyes.

“I guess not. And I’ve seen the dream plenty of times, it’s not like I wouldn’t be able to remember it if I needed to,” said James.

Lily nodded and smiled. “It’s good to see that they’re gone,” she said.

James smiled at her and they caught up with the rest of the group.

…………………………

          It happened during Charms class. The seventh years were busy practising a charm that made an object sprout wings and fly away. Of course, Lily was the first one in the class to do it, and she was now helping Marlene to perfect it as well.

          

“No, Marly. It’s more of a snap of the wrist, you’re doing more of a flick,” said Lily.

“What’s the difference?” Marlene whined. Lily had been trying to help her for at least 10 minutes now. 

“Watch,” said Lily. She took her wand and performed the charm perfectly once again. Marlene was watching the pillow’s wings grow perfectly from it and fly around the classroom trying to figure out what she was doing wrong. 

“Now you try,” said Lily.

Marlene nodded and turned to face the front. She said the incantation and _snapped_ her wrist. A light shot out of her wand and hit the pillow in front of her. It struggled a bit, but eventually sprouted wings and started to rise out of the air. Marlene squealed excitedly. It wasn’t as good as Lily’s, but hey, no one was a good as Lily in Charms.

Lily grinned at Marlene. “It’s a start, Marly, good job!” said Lily encouragingly.

“Thanks, Lils,” said Marlene. 

“Ms. Evans, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office,” squeaked Professor Flitwick. A little boy was standing in front of the class; it seemed that he was the messenger.

Lily looked at him confused. “Did he say why, Professor?” asked Lily.

“Afraid not, Ms. Evans. It might be Head business,” he replied.

“Then why would James not be called down as well?” asked Lily.

“I’m not sure. Mr. Potter, would you like to accompany Ms. Evans to the Headmaster’s office?” asked Flitwick.

James glanced at Lily who was staring at him. He was just as confused as she was. He nodded and began to pack up his things. Lily and James said goodbye to their friends and walked out of class after getting the password to the Headmaster’s office from Flitwick.

“Hey Lily, what do you think it could be about?” asked James.

Lily didn’t answer. She was staring straight ahead with no expression on her face. She looked a bit pale.

“Lily?” James asked looking at her.

She turned to him and stopped walking. She didn’t answer for a while. James put his hands on her shoulders. “Lily?” he asked one more time.

“What if it’s bad news? What if it’s my parents?” she whispered, looking right into his eyes. 

James blanched. He hadn’t thought about that. He looked at Lily, who eyes were full of fear and concern. He didn’t want to think about what this could do to her if it were true what she said. 

“No, Lily. You can’t think like that. It won’t be that. Nothing is wrong, don’t worry,” he said. It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Lily.

Lily looked at him with her eyes slowly watering. “How do you know? HOW?!” she shouted.

James’ heart clenched. He hated seeing Lily in so much despair. At that moment, he would do anything just so that Lily could have her parents back. _Stop, James. You don’t even know that they are dead yet!_ He couldn’t think of anything to do, so he just wrapped her up in his arms. 

Lily was taken aback by his actions but hugged him back all the same. She closed her eyes and the few tears in her eyes slipped out. She was acting like a fool; she didn’t even know what Dumbledore wanted her for, but she felt grateful to James all the same. Then suddenly, she felt him loosen up and let go.

“Lily, it will be fine. Let’s just go up there, okay? We’ll find out soon enough what it is. I’ll sit with you if you want,” he offered.

Lily smiled and wiped her eyes as they walked towards Dumbledore’s office. He said the password and they walked up the moving staircase together. Lily knocked on the door with James at her side. They heard the voice of their headmaster beckon them inside and they opened the door.

“Ah, Ms. Evans. And Mr. Potter, I see?” said Dumbledore looking at them through his half moon spectacles.

“Professor Flitwick sent me here to accompany her,” replied James.

“I see, very well, have a seat,” he said, conjuring two armchairs for the Head students.

“Why did you want to see me, Professor?” asked Lily in a small voice. She was struggling to keep it even.

Dumbledore looked at her and replied, “It’s about your family,” said Dumbledore.

Lily almost fainted right there. But she saw that James was next to her and it gave her an unexplainable strength to hear what Dumbledore had to say. She gulped and said, “What is it, Professor?” her voice was squeaky and it was a great challenge to just get those four words out without bawling.

Suddenly, Dumbledore smiled. Lily and James were both shocked that their Headmaster could smile at a time like this. 

“Your sister, Petunia, is getting married and your parents have asked me to omit you from school so that you can attend,” he said.

That wasn’t expected. Lily looked at him with eyes wide open. She so prepared to faint that she almost did right there. Her parents were not dead but _Petunia_ was getting _married_. 

“What?” asked Lily, somewhat rudely.

“Your sister, Petunia is getting married to a young man named,” Dumbledore looked down at a paper on his desk, “Vernon,” he finished. He was still smiling, and Lily felt the sudden urge to do something reckless, like start smashing things in the office. How could he scare her like that? 

“With all due respect, sir. But you called Lily out of class to tell her that her sister is getting married?” asked James from beside her. He seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Lily.

“Yes, I did, Mr. Potter. Was that some sort of inconvenience for the two of you?” he replied politely.

“Well, Lily and I were expecting the worse; that her parents were…” James trailed off, glancing at Lily from the corner of his eye.

Lily was still looking at Dumbledore with wide eyes and her mouth was still slightly open. Dumbledore turned to Lily. 

“No, Ms. Evans. Thankfully that is not the case for this visit, I assure you that your parents are perfectly safe,” said Dumbledore, smiling again. “I’m truly sorry that I have caused you this amount of anxiety, but I wanted to tell you myself about the good news and that you should be expecting to leave soon,” he finished. 

Lily closed her eyes. It was too much for her. After thinking that her parents were dead, to being so close to the person she loved, then hearing that her sister was getting married and her parents were safe, was too much for a seventeen year old girl to process in the short time of 5 minutes. Lily wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react. Was she supposed to be relieved? Was she supposed to feel anger at Dumbledore for causing her so much fear? Was she supposed to feel repulsed at the idea of Petunia marrying to a man she hated? She breathed deeply and massaged her temples.

“Ms. Evans, are you alright?” asked Dumbledore, peering at her through his glasses. 

Lily looked up at her Headmaster with her green eyes. There was a mixture of all those feelings in her eyes. “Yes, I’m fine, Professor. When will I be leaving?” asked Lily, her voice even.

“This Friday after classes and you will be returning Sunday in time for Monday’s classes,” said Dumbledore. 

Lily nodded and James spoke up after being quiet for a while. “Why so soon?” he asked.

“I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Evans have their reasons and will contact Ms. Evans soon enough,” replied Dumbledore. “Ms. Evans, you will be travelling by Floo to your parents’ household and back. The Ministry has connected your house to the network for the weekend. I have informed them of your travelling arrangements already and they will be expecting you. You shall come to my office 15 minutes after your last class Friday afternoon. Professor McGonagall will collect you from the Common Room,” he explained. 

Lily nodded again and stood up. “Is that all, Professor?” she asked.

“Yes, I believe so,” said Dumbledore, motioning for the door. “Oh, and Ms. Evans,” he said. Lily turned around from the direction of the door. “I’m sorry once more for misguiding you to believe that something was wrong,” he said sincerely. Lily nodded again and opened the door with James close behind her. 

Lily was walking quite fast out of the office and back to Gryffindor tower. James was jogging to keep up with her. 

“Hey, Lily. Are you alright?” he asked.

Lily kept walking. James was reminded of the time when he was running after her after she had punched a guy in the face. 

“Lily? Hello? Are you okay?” James asked again.

Lily walked towards a wall and sat down against it. Her knees were bent and her arms were resting on them. She sighed and held her head in her hands. 

James walked to her and sat down next to her. “Hey, you alright?” 

“I was not expecting that,” she said, talking into her hands.

“Trust me, neither was I. But, it’s good news right? I mean, your parents are safe,” said James, turning to look at her.

“But, you don’t know how scared I was. I was thinking about how I never got to tell them about Voldemort yet; I was planning it for Christmas. I don’t know what I would have done if they were gone. It would have been my entire fault. I haven’t even been writing that much because of Head duties…” she trailed off. 

James remembered their conversation from their first patrol and what she had said about her parents. He also remembered what Lily had said about Petunia, how she led a perfect, normal life and how she did everything to make Lily’s life miserable.

James lifted her head gently and made her look in his eyes. “Don’t think like that. You know that it would never be your fault for your parent’s death, nobody’s but Voldemort’s. And you know that they are safe, so there is nothing to worry about,” he said looking in her eyes. His hand was on her chin, making sure that she didn’t move away. They were so close to each other, Lily could have leaned over and kissed him. But she didn’t. It took extreme strength on her part not to. Instead, she looked away and nodded. 

Lily stood up and brushed her robes of invisible dirt. James stood up after her. “Thanks, James,” she said, not meeting his eye.

James smiled. “Anytime, don’t worry about it,” he said. “So what class do we have next?” he asked as they started walking once more. 

Lily thought for a moment. She knew they were supposed to be in Potions, but she didn’t feel like going anymore. She felt the reckless side of her coming back, but a little less violent this time. 

“Want to skive class and go to Hogsmeade?” she asked quite suddenly.

James stopped walking and looked at her. “What?” he said shocked.

“I asked if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me and skive off class,” she repeated for him.

“Why?” asked James.

“Well, if you don’t want to, then I guess we could just go to Potions,” said Lily, starting to walk again. 

James stood there staring after Lily. He shook his head and raced after her. He grabbed her arm and turned her around. “Okay, let’s go,” he said. James half expected Lily to ask him what he was talking about and it would have all in James’ imagination. After all, this was all James had wanted for the past three years; to go to Hogsmeade with Lily (even if it was just as friends).

She smiled brightly at him and James’ heart lurched forward and started beating wildly. “Come on, let’s go,” she said grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the Entrance hall. 

“Wait a second, Lily. Where are you going?” he asked.

“The Entrance Hall. I thought you wanted to go to Hogsmeade,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows and stopping.

James smiled. “Lily, if you are going to sneak off to Hogsmeade, you have to at least be sneaky about it,” he said smirking. 

Lily scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. “Have any better ideas, Mr. Marauder?” she asked, challenging him.

“As a matter of fact, I have seven. But we only need one,” said James. He grabbed her arm this time and pulled her in the opposite direction to the third floor corridor. 

James stopped in front of a statue of a one-eyed, humped witch. 

Lily smirked. “I suppose this is some kind of passage way that leads to the Three Broomsticks?” she asked, mocking him.

“Actually it leads to the cellar of Honeydukes, but you were close,” he said. 

Lily faltered. “What?”

James didn’t answer her, but looked around to make sure that no one was around them before turning back to the statue. “ _Dissendium,_ ” he whispered. The statue started to descend and Lily almost fainted for the second time that day. There, a narrow passage appeared and James walked into it, holding out his hand for Lily to follow.

“I-I don’t understand,” she said, not entering the passage.

“I’ll explain on the way, just come on before someone comes,” he said.

Lily hesitantly stepped through the passage behind James and he closed it behind them. 

“ _Lumos,_ ” he whispered. The tip of James’ wand gave them light. James moved the light to show in front of them and it showed a stone slide not two centimetres from Lily’s feet. She gasped and James smiled at her. 

“Shall we go?” he asked her.

Lily looked hesitant but James grabbed her hand and sat down, forcing Lily to sit down next to him. He was grinning widely, obviously enjoying this. “Bon voyage!” he said and he pushed them forward. 

The two of them slid forward down the slope and they soon landed on a mossy, damp floor. It was dark wherever they were and James’ wand was their only source of light. James stood up and wiped his robes. James took Lily’s bag and his and set it at the bottom of the slope for them to find on their way back. He then grabbed Lily’s hand again and pulled her up. She was too shocked to even say anything. 

James still held her hand and walked forward. After he was sure Lily was following after him, he let go.

“So, what do you think?” James asked, the light of his wand shining ahead of them.

Lily had millions of thoughts racing through her head. “How did you find this?” she asked.

James looked back at her and tapped his nose mysteriously. “A Marauder never reveals his secrets.”

“Never? What about the Marauder’s Map?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

James thought for a second. “There are exceptions,” he replied.

“So, is this an exception?” she asked.

“Nope. Maybe one day, but today is not the day,” he said, walking along. 

“Okay fine then. How— _uff!_ ” Lily stumbled on the uneven floor. Thank Merlin for James’ quick Quidditch reflexes; he grabbed Lily before she fell flat on her face. 

“Thanks,” she mumbled as her face gradually turned redder. She was so embarrassed that she tripped in front of him. 

“No problem, Lily,” he replied, letting go of her. “Just be more careful next time,” he said smirking. He set off again. “Any more questions?” he asked, looking back at her.

“None that I can ask without getting the ‘A Marauder never tells his secrets,’ answer,” she said. “But you boys are truly unbelievable,” she said, using the walls to guide her. 

James laughed. “Thanks, you are pretty unbelievable too. The Head Girl and Boy skiving of class to go to Hogsmeade,” he said laughing once again. “I must be dreaming,” he muttered.

“What did you say?” she asked, peering at him from behind. 

James turned around. “Nothing. This tunnel’s pretty long, and then we have to climb like a million steps, so we’ll be there in around 20 minutes,” he told her.

Lily sighed. What was she doing? All this Dumbledore business scrambled her brain and she wasn’t thinking straight. Maybe she could just turn around and start running? No. She was going to stay with James and enjoy the day. She hadn’t had a day off in a while, most of the weekends were spent doing homework and reviewing for NEWTs. Yes, she was reviewing for NEWTs in October. And this weekend was Petunia’s wedding. Lily groaned out loud. She was too shocked or relieved earlier to have any sort of reaction yet.

James turned to look at her. “Lily? Are you okay?” he asked. 

She groaned again. “Tell me this isn’t happening. Tell me that my sister isn’t marrying that great pig and that they aren’t going to have great pig children. Tell me it isn’t true and that class hasn’t even started,” she said. She stopped walking and put her head in her hands.

James went over to her for the second time that day and put his hands on her shoulders again. “Lily, I could tell you that, but I would be lying. So I’m not. But that’s why we’re going to Hogsmeade, to let you relax and forget about your sister. Besides, you’ll be able to see your parents again. And thank you, by the way, for getting the image of a great pig having children with your sister in my mind,” he said.

Lily laughed and looked up. “Your welcome. I guess it will be okay,’ she said uncertainly. “Come on, let’s go. I need to restock on Honeydukes if I’m going to be spending my weekend with Petunia,” she said. James smiled and they moved forward again in silence.

Lily thought about the weekend. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe Lily would try and reconcile a bit with Petunia. _No, that’s pushing it, Lily. At least I’m going to this wedding,_ she thought to herself. Well, she’d be able to see her parents at least. But then she would have to tell them about Voldemort. _Great,_ she thought, _going to see my parents only to tell that they are in danger._ But, she decided that the sooner she told them, the better.

Then, Lily had a thought. It was only October. That means school started one month ago and she was hearing about the wedding now. Then, was the wedding being planned during the summer and Petunia had not told her? Had her parents kept it from her? What was the point in telling her now, when they had the whole summer to tell her and they didn’t? Lily suddenly got angry that her parents had not told her earlier. She understood that Petunia would want to keep it a secret and she didn’t care. But her parents? Why would they keep it a secret? Did Lily mean so little to them that they wouldn’t include her in something like this? Did they suddenly feel guilty at not telling her and decided to invite her to come at the last moment? These miserable thoughts flashed through her mind. She was so angry at her parents at something so little. Her emotions were all jumbled today.

“Hey, Lily? You still there? You’re really quiet,” said James’ soothing voice from in front of her. 

Lily’s anger calmed down at remembering that she was with James. There was no reason to be angry now; she was supposed to be relaxing before the weekend, not getting worked up about it. Her angry slowly ebbed away as she thought about James. 

He turned around to face her, but continued to walk. The light from his wand was reflecting off his glasses and showing his marvellous hazel eyes. They were glimmering in the dim light and peering at her. His boyish features were highlighted by the light and Lily appreciated the dark as it was hiding her growing blush. Her heart started to beat faster and her mind turned blank. 

“Lily?” he asked again.

“What?” she replied blankly.

James and Lily stopped for the second time. “You know, we’re never going to get there if we keep stopping like this,” he said, shining the light on her. “Are you sure you want to do this? We can turn back if you want,” he said.

“Oh, no, I want to keep going! I was just thinking about the wedding again. Keep going, sorry,” she urged. 

James rose an eyebrow but continued walking through the tunnel. Lily followed obediently and just focused on James. She didn’t want to ruin this, it was sort of an early date to Hogsmeade. Maybe if they had a good time, he would ask her to the upcoming weekend, right? She blushed and started to walk quicker, eager to get to Hogsmeade faster. 

After what seemed like an eternity, James turned back to look at Lily. 

“Here are the stairs. There are a lot, so be prepared. It will lead us to the cellar of Honeydukes, so we have to be careful and quiet when we get up there, okay?” he said.

Lily nodded and the two of them set to climbing the stairs. After five minutes, Lily’s legs were aching. She hated climbing stairs and Hogwarts had a lot of them. Elevators and escalators were one of the Muggle things that Lily missed. Also, being behind James, she had a clear view of his arse. Determined to not to stare at it like a perverted loon, Lily glued her eyes to her feet and the rhythmic motion of them going up and up and up. Finally, after what felt like climbing 20 flights of Hogwarts’ stairs, James stopped in front of her. She nearly bumped into him but stopped herself at the last minute, almost causing her to go tumbling down the stairs. She looked up and saw that there was a trapdoor stationed right above them.

“Here we are,” he whispered. “Shh, don’t say anything in case someone is there.” 

James lifted the trapdoor slowly and carefully and looked out the small crack. Lily assumed there was no one there as he opened it a bit more and manoeuvred himself out. Then, he turned around and lifted Lily carefully out after him. They walked out of the cellar and into Honeydukes.

…………………………

          James stood patiently by Lily’s side as she picked out her favourite chocolates. He gave Lily advice when she asked him what she should get but otherwise remained quiet. He was still convinced this was a dream and was trying to relish in the moment. 

          

“What do you think about these?” she asked, holding up some acid pops.

“Unless you want to make a hole in your tongue, I suggest not,” he said, taking them from her hand and putting them back on the counter.

“Hey, that might be good for Petunia…” she said, reaching for them.

James laughed and pushed her along the aisles. He felt as though his heart would never slow down and the tingling in his fingers would never go away. It was unbelievable that Lily always made him feel this way no matter how much time they spent together. He would never get used to it.

James wished so badly that he could ask Lily out now, that this could be their first official date. But, he knew that Lily probably thought of this as some kind of friendly get together. James knew that he had to wait; that Lily wasn’t ready to accept him yet. Sure, they were great friends, but he felt that Lily needed some time first and find out what she really wanted. He still felt the need to prove himself to her, that he changed and he was a different person than he was before. 

The two continued on walking through Honeydukes, James obediently following Lily and picking out some things for himself before Lily was ready.

“Okay, I’m all done,” said Lily with piles of candy in her arms. 

James looked at her with wide eyes. How could a girl so small eat that much candy?

“Wow, that’s a lot of food,” he commented, walking towards the counter to pay. 

“I’m going to get bored at the wedding, no doubt. And I’ll miss the wizarding world too much, even for just a weekend. It’s one way for me to be with it,” she said shrugging. 

When their time finally came to pay, Lily placed all her items on the counter. Counting them all out would take forever, so James didn’t try. The owner of Honeydukes totalled up the cash and waited for Lily to pay up. She dug around for her wallet but while she was fervently looking for it, James had already gotten out his money and paid for it. A total of 1 galleon, 14 sickles and 4 knuts. He took the bag, thanked the man, and dragged Lily out of the shop. 

“Why’d you do that?” she asked, taking the bag from James’ hand.

“Do what?” he asked, confused.

“Pay for me,” she replied.

James blushed and shrugged. “My mum told me that I should always pay when I go out with lady friends,” he said, embarrassed.

Lily blushed. Did James mean that they were sort of on a date? Or was it just friendly? UGH. James confused her so much.

“Oh, er. Thanks, James. You didn’t have too, it’s not like we’re dating or anything,” she said. She froze. Did that actually come out of her mouth? _What a stupid, stupid thing to say! Now he’s going to think that you don’t want to date him! DAMN!_

James nodded and kept his face neutral, but his heart gave a painful jab. It sounded like Lily didn’t want to date him and she was uncomfortable with him; like she felt sorry for him. He had this tiny flicker of hope inside him that Lily would like him, but it was very slowly being extinguished. The way she said it was a blow to the heart; “It’s not like we’re dating or anything.” She sounded like she was reminding him that she was not with him and it hurt him more than he thought it would. He suddenly felt immensely depressed and the joy of skipping class with Lily was slowly diminishing. 

The pair walked on in an uncomfortable silence. They walked aimlessly through the streets of Hogsmeade as they had nothing better to do. There were not many people as it was a Wednesday and during working hours. There was a slight breeze as the October weather was coming and fall was approaching, but it was nice.

James offered to go to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer. Lily agreed and they entered the bar. It was not crowded at all, there were a few people here and they were chatting amongst themselves. James spotted Madam Rosmerta from behind the counter and waved to her. She waved back and motioned for them to come over. James put his hand on Lily’s back and they walked over to Rosmerta. His heart gave another jab and he hastily took his hand from Lily’s back. Maybe he should keep the contact to the minimal.

“Why, if it isn’t Mr. James Potter. And not with dear Messrs. Sirius, Remus and Peter for once,” she said smiling wryly. “And, it’s Lily, isn’t it?” she asked, looking curiously at her.

Lily nodded and smiled. “Lily Evans,” she confirmed as she sat down at the bar.

“Lovely. And what may I ask, James, are you doing, bringing girls out of school for dates?” she asked, grinning at James.

They both blushed lightly as James sat down next to Lily. “We’re just friends, Rosy, and it was her idea,” James said, pointing a finger at Lily, accusingly.

“Oh really, now. Well I should go and get a professor…” she started. Lily blanched and James smirked. “But, I guess I’ll just let you two have fun,” Lily let out a breath and James shook his head amusingly at Rosmerta. “After all, the two Head students should be allowed a day or two off,” she said. “What’ll it be, Hun?” she asked Lily.

“I’ll just have a Butterbeer, please,” said Lily, smiling at the waitress.

“And you, James?” she asked next.

“I’ll have the same thing,” he answered.

Rosmerta pulled out two Butterbeers from behind the counter and handed them to the students. She stayed and chatted for a bit until another customer called for her. 

“It seems like you Marauders are friends of Madam Rosmerta,” she said, smirking at James.

James nodded and smiled. “Sirius and I would have competitions on who Rosmerta liked better, we both thought she was extremely attractive,” he said sipping at his Butterbeer. 

Lily felt herself get a little jealous at his words. She mentally slapped herself. _Get a grip, Lily. It’s Rosmerta._ “ _Was_ attractive?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

James shrugged. “I’ve moved on, but I don’t think Sirius has. But, we will all have a little soft spot for our Rosy,” he said, putting a hand to his heart. Lily laughed. “And of course, Rosmerta confessed to me that I was always her favourite,” he added with a wink.

Lily rolled her eyes and drank her Butterbeer. 

“So, what are you going to wear to your sister’s wedding?” James asked, changing the subject.

Lily rolled her eyes. “She probably has this horrible dress picked out for me so I don’t stand out and bring attention to myself. After all, I’m a freak,” she said. She took a long drink of her Butterbeer. 

“That’s mad, she would never do that. I mean, she can’t be that horrible. And unless you’re a part of the wedding, she can’t pick what you wear,” he said.

“It’s not mad, it’s perfectly normal for Petunia. Yes, she is that horrible. And I hope to Merlin that I am not part of the wedding. But, she will probably say that it is her special day and I have to do whatever she wants,” she countered to all of his arguments.

Now it was James’ turn to roll his eyes. “I’m sure she’ll be sympathetic and let you wear what you want,” he said.

“Whatever you say James,” she said. “Let’s talk about something else, I came here to try and forget about this weekend, not think about how bad it will be,” she said. 

James nodded and the conversation rolled on. James and Lily sat there for hours talking until the pub started to fill up as more people were getting home from work. James decided that they should probably get back to Hogwarts as it was getting late. Lily agreed and went to the bathroom quickly. While she was there, Rosmerta came and talked to James.

“She’s a pretty one, James,” said Rosmerta winking at him. “That’s the one Sirius and Remus were always teasing you about, wasn’t it?” she asked.

James rolled his eyes and nodded reluctantly. “But, we’re only friends so that’s how it’s going to stay unless she wants it to move forward,” said James.

“Oh, cheer up, James. Anyone can see that she likes you. You two make a great couple,” she said, cleaning some mugs.

“Don’t get my hopes up, Rosmerta. No matter how much I want to believe you, I don’t think so,” he said solemnly.

“Oh, James. Men are so oblivious,” she said rolling her eyes. 

James rolled his eyes back. “And if women aren’t oblivious, can’t she see that I am going absolutely mad _just_ being her friend?” he asked miserably.

“Love blinds you, and if you’re going so mad, then why don’t you do something about it?” she asked, putting her hands on her waist.

“It’s not that easy, Rosmerta. _She only_ _wants_ to be _friends_ ,” he said exasperatedly.

Rosmerta gave a frustrated sigh and resumed her mug cleaning. “James, you need to take some chances. If you sit here thinking like that, nothing will happen!” she said, cleaning the mug fervently, releasing all her frustration at James out on the mug.

James shook his head. “I’ve taken enough chances; I don’t think I can take it anymore. My heart can’t take it anymore,” he whispered.

At that moment, Lily came back from the washroom. She was smiling happily and stood next to James. “Should we get back then?” she asked cheerfully.

James nodded and stood up from his seat. Rosmerta was giving him a look but he ignored it. 

“G’bye, Rosmerta! It was nice talking to you,” said Lily.

“Oh, it was nice talking to you too, Hun. I’ll see you soon enough, after all a _real_ Hogsmeade weekend is coming up,” she said. She looked pointedly at James. Again, he ignored her. 

“Right! See you,” said Lily.

Lily and James walked out of the pub and down the streets of Hogsmeade. The sun was setting slowly and everything was shades of red, orange and brown. Hogsmeade was so beautiful during the fall. Everything was so beautiful during fall. 

Lily sighed contently at the view. She wondered how long they had been absent. Only then did she stop to think about what Marlene would think. If Marlene had been called down to the Headmaster’s office and disappeared for the rest of the day, Lily would be immensely worried. She suddenly felt guilty that she didn’t tell Marlene anything and just took off. She momentarily forgot about James being there until his hand brushed hers slightly. Her hand tingled and she restrained herself from glancing at James. 

That day had been wonderful for Lily. It was exactly how she imagined a date with James would be, except there would be a bit more snogging. She shook her head from the thought and the anticipation of thinking if James would kiss her before they went back to the castle. Just the thought of it made her head spin and she removed it from her mind immediately. They were just friends and it was not something that she should be thinking about.

They quickly walked into Honeydukes and sneaked into the cellar undetected. 

By the time they were walking through the tunnel, Lily got extremely tired. Maybe it was the combination of being with James and the darkness of the tunnel that made her so tired, but she hardly remembered falling asleep until James woke her up at the base of the slope.

“Sorry to wake you, Lily. But, I can’t carry you up this slope, you’re going to have to walk,” he said uncomfortably.

Lily blushed so hard that her feet felt like they were a deep red. She got up hastily from the ground where James must have put her down and she brushed herself off. She mumbled a quick sorry and thanks to James and picked up her bag from where James had left them earlier that day. She was not making eye contact with him.

They walked up the stone slope with some difficulty as Lily had just woken up and was slightly uncoordinated. She reached out for James often and he just resorted to having a hand on her arm constantly until they made it to the top. James muttered the spell to lower the statue and they climbed out quickly. They were lucky no one was in that corridor as James didn’t have the Marauder’s Map to check if anyone was around. 

Lily guessed it was about dinner time because all the corridors they walked through were empty. It made sense as Lily’s stomach was grumbling silently. 

The Head Boy and Girl went up to the Gryffindor tower to drop off their bags before going down to dinner. Lily still refused to meet James’ eye as she was still heavily embarrassed at falling asleep and having to be carried by James. _Hmm, I wonder what that felt like. Too bad I can’t remember,_ she thought gloomily. _It must have felt wonderful;_ she stopped herself before she got too carried away. 

They walked into the loud Great Hall, hoping to enter unnoticed. James didn’t think to bring the invisibility cloak and now wished he had. They had not been present for most of the day and suddenly showing up at dinner together was a bit suspicious. 

Thankfully, only a couple of heads turned in their direction, mostly James’ fan club and Slytherins’, but they didn’t really cause any worry for Lily. They spotted their friends sitting at the Gryffindor table; Marlene and Remus were wearing concerned looks, Sirius and Peter were eating their food, looking calm and collected. (Actually, only Sirius looked calm and collected; Peter was stuffing HUGE amounts of food into his mouth.)

Lily and James approached their friends and sat down across from each other, Lily beside Marlene and James beside Remus.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU TWO BEEN!” Marlene shouted at them, looking hysterical. 

Lily blushed a little as some heads turned to stare at them and James shrugged. “Hogsmeade,” he answered.

“HOGSMEADE? HOGSMEADE? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU DOING IN HOGSMEADE?” she asked.

“Shh, Marlene, keep it down, people are staring,” whispered Lily.

“KEEP IT DOWN? I’VE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU AND YOU’RE TELLING ME TO KEEP IT DOWN!” her face was now red and more and more people were looking in their direction.

“MARLENE!” shouted Remus. “I’m sure they have a good explanation for this, just calm down and let them explain,” he said soothingly.

Marlene huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She blew the hair out of her face and looked between James, who was putting food on his plate, and Lily, who was looking around to see if people were still staring.

“Well, is someone going to explain?” she asked impatiently.

Lily smiled sheepishly and nodded. “Dumbledore called me to his office and told me that Petunia was getting married and I have to leave this weekend to go to her wedding,” she started. 

“WHAT!” Marlene shouted. She met Petunia in Lily’s fifth year when she spent some time at Lily’s house for the summer vacation and she knew what a wench she was. “She’s getting married? Ugh,” she said, disgusted.

Lily nodded. “I know, and I thought it was something worse like my parents were dead or something, so I was a complete mess,” she said.

Sirius looked at Lily and James. “What’s so bad about your sister getting married? Shouldn’t you be happy for her?” he asked, confused.

Marlene and Lily both looked at Sirius like he was crazy. “You haven’t met Lily’s sister, Sirius. She’s an absolute nightmare,” Marlene said, shuddering. “She makes Lily’s life a living hell and she is the most wicked sister someone could have,” said Marlene.

“Don’t you think that’s pushing it a bit?” asked Remus.

Lily shook her head. “I told you about her, Remus. She’s horrible. But anyways, getting back to our story,” she said. “After we left Dumbledore’s office, I didn’t feel like going to class, so I asked James if he wanted to go to Hogsmeade and he agreed,” said Lily, now starting to pile her plate with food. 

“Wow. Lily Evans, Head Girl wanting to skive class with the Head Boy,” Sirius said shaking his head.

“That’s exactly what I said, mate,” said James, smirking. Lily glared at them.

“Showed her the tunnel, did you, Prongs?” asked Sirius, smirking. 

James nodded and continued eating. Marlene looked between the two boys with a confused expression on her face. 

“What tunnel?” she asked.

“SHH!” said three out of the four Marauders. Marlene was even more confused. “We’ll talk about it later,” said Remus. 

Dinner was finally done and they walked up to the Common Room. In a secluded corner of the Common Room, the boys quickly explained the tunnel to Marlene. Much like Lily, she was amazed at the knowledge of the boys and wondered how they came to figure out this school so well. 

During the explanation, Lily felt extremely tired and fell asleep on the armchair she was sitting in. When Marlene woke her up, it was around 9:00. Again, she had no memory of falling asleep and she was wondering why she was so tired. She noticed that the Marauders were still sitting with them. She glanced in James’ direction and noticed him staring at her. They both blushed and looked away quickly. 

Lily grabbed her bag from beside her and grabbed her homework. She asked Marlene what their homework was and then asked Remus because Marlene wasn’t paying attention in class. She sighed heavily and got to work. 

Two hours later, Lily was absolutely beat. Her legs were aching from walking up so much that day (she wasn’t used to that much exercise) and her eyelids were drooping. She usually stayed up later than that, but tonight, she was extremely tired. She guessed it was because spending time with James made her heart beat a bit more, laugh a bit more, talk a bit more, smile a bit more and feel a bit more. Her homework was nearly finished but she decided she could leave it until breakfast. All she needed to do was do a concluding paragraph on her Transfiguration essay and that was easy. 

Lily packed up her things and said good night to the Marauders and told Marlene that she was going to bed early. She still hadn’t told her about her day with James but it would have to wait. She smiled at James and walked up to her dormitory. 

Lily quickly changed out of her robes and into her pyjamas. She washed up and flopped into her bed. She closed the curtains around her and fell asleep with thoughts of Butterbeer, dark tunnels and strong arms carrying her in her sleep. 

**Review? Yes.**


	15. A Relaxing Weekend?

**Chapter 15: A Relaxing Weekend?**

Thursday seemed to rush past Lily and Friday was soon upon her. She dreaded having to leave Hogwarts as she was just getting settled in. She was taking as many wizarding things that she could in her trunk to remind her of the world that she was leaving behind, if only for a weekend.

          

Marlene thought she was being extremely melodramatic, but it couldn’t be helped. The combination of leaving her house only to go to a wedding where she was clearly not wanted made her weekend arrive much quicker than normal. 

Her mother had indeed written to her as Professor Dumbledore had said and she informed Lily of the short notice. It turned out that Petunia had gotten engaged to Vernon in the middle of April of Lily’s sixth year. Lily’s parents had no idea of this. Petunia skilfully hid the ring from her family and they continued on with their normal lives. That was why Petunia had been going off to Vernon’s house so much during the summer, only coming home to torment Lily. 

But this was not the whole reason why Lily was giving three days notice. Petunia had sprung the announcement to Lily’s parents shortly after Lily had left for school. They were scandalized that Petunia would do such a thing without their consent or their help. Lily’s mother was especially hurt because her first daughter was getting married and was preparing it without her mother’s help. Lily also knew that her parents secretly disapproved of Vernon, but they did not say anything to Petunia, so long as he was making her happy, they would have to accept him. Truthfully, he was a pompous (Yes, even more than James) pig with no manners and terribly dull. It was obvious that Mr. and Mrs. Evans were upset, but they didn’t cancel or postpone the wedding to better fit their schedules. 

Mrs. Evans had asked Petunia if Lily had known about the wedding and if she was invited. Petunia had assured her that she was, but Lily was left in the dark until the fateful day when Dumbledore called her into his office. Since she was in such shock, Mrs. Evans didn’t push the situation any longer and trusted in her eldest daughter’s word. Not until they were going over last minute guest lists, did Lily’s mother see that she was not on the list. Petunia assured her that it was just a mistake and assured her that Lily was invited. But, knowing the spitefulness of the two sisters, mother Evans knew better. No doubt, Lily’s mother was extremely angry and her father was incredibly disappointed. Mrs. Evans immediately wrote to Dumbledore (using an owl that Lily had bought them so they could contact her in an emergency; he was small, but efficient and Lily was sure that her father was quite fond of him,) asking him if Lily could possibly be excused for the weekend to attend her sister’s wedding. Shortly after, she owled Lily and told her of the sudden situation herself. 

_Dear Lily,_

_I know this is short notice, Hun, but Petunia’s getting married. She got engaged in April of last year, can you believe it? Please don’t be angry with us for not telling you, your father and I didn’t know about it until you left for school. Petunia assured us you were invited, but it turns out that she wasn’t entirely telling the truth._ (Lily rolled her eyes when she read this)

_I’m sure Professor Dumbledore has told you already about getting out of school for the weekend; he already confirmed back that you would be flowing over, or whatever he called it._

_Again, Darling, I’m sorry for the short notice. Petunia has been in a right state lately over the wedding. You really can’t blame her, but I’m apologizing for your sister anyways._

_Since it is such short notice, I’ve bought you a dress to wear; nothing fancy, but it’ll have to do. You’ll see it when you get here, I’ll make any needed adjustments myself if there are any needed. I would have also let you bring a date. Lil, but again, too short notice. I’m sure that there was some boy you wanted to bring along; I guess we’ll just have to meet him a different time._

_Anyways, Hun, I think that everything is covered; we’ll talk it about it more when you come home._

_Miss and love you,_

_Mum_

Lily re-read the letter once more before levitating her trunk down the stairs. Classes had ended just five minutes before and she was to meet Professor McGonagall in the Common Room in ten minutes. She trudged downstairs gloomily and sat down on the armchair facing the fire after setting her trunk down in front of her. She closed her eyes with a pained expression on her face.

…………………………

          “Check.”

          

“What? That’s not a check.”

“Is too, see?”

Peter and Sirius were in a heated chess game. It had only taken five minutes, but Peter currently held Sirius in a difficult check that he could not find a move to get out of. His pieces were shouting insults at him and ruining his concentration.

“OH WOULD YOU SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!” he roared at the chess pieces. This only caused them to shout louder at how obvious the move was and that he should just give in while he still had some of his dignity left. 

James and Remus were watching from the side lines as Sirius and Peter were both staring at the chess pieces in agony. If you looked closely, you could see the drops of sweat materialising out of their skin and slowly rolling down their faces. Peter was perspiring because of the tension of winning a game; Sirius was perspiring because of the tension of losing it. Peter had barely ever won a match of chess; that’s why everyone asked him if he wanted to play. If Sirius lost this game, he would never live it down.

“Damn sodding piece of arse, what do I move?” he growled in frustration. If this went on any longer, he would start pulling his hair out. 

“Come on, Padfoot, it’s right in front of you, think!” shouted Remus from his left.

“Well, maybe I would be able to if you would bloody shut up!” he retorted. 

Remus rolled his eyes but shut up anyways. 

James was sitting forward in his seat, totally focused on the game until a small, yet distinct spot of red appeared in the corner of his eye. Knowing that shade of red all too well, James jerked his head towards the direction of the colour. And of course, just like he was expecting, there sat his beloved Lily Evans. His focused mind was instantly turned to mush as he met the sight of her. She was sitting in an armchair looking quite distressed, but beautiful as always. He turned back to his friends and saw they were already looking at him.

“Go on then, we’ll tell you how it ends,” said Remus, smirking at him. “It’s not like they’ll miss you much anyways, no offence,” he added. 

“SHH!” said Sirius, not taking his eyes off the chess board. His eyes were scanning frantically around the board, looking for some kind of clue. 

James smiled gratefully at Remus and smirked at Sirius and Peter. He got up from his chair and walked up to Lily. He sat down across from her but she didn’t seem to notice.

He sat there watching her with furrowed eyebrows and an expression of confusion on his face until she fidgeted and opened her eyes. 

Lily looked up and was a little shocked to see James staring at her like he was. He was slouching into his armchair, looking very relaxed and laid back, but the expression on his face made him look worried, confused, but overall, very attractive.

Lily’s breath caught in her throat and she just stared back at James, her expression probably matching his. Neither of them said anything, but clearly, they both had questions.

“Hi, James,” said Lily finally.

“Hey, Lils. Why do you look so…stressed?” he asked.

“Like you have to ask,” she said, sighing. “I really don’t want to leave,” she groaned.

“Don’t worry about it, Lily. It’s just a weekend. If you can’t handle a weekend, how do you ever handle the summer break?” he asked her.

“We’ve had this conversation before, James,” she sighed again. “This time Petunia is getting MARRIED,” Lily said, frustrated and drained of energy.

“Yes, and I still fail to see how your sister getting married is such a bad thing,” he said, equally frustrated and drained.

Their conversations had been very much like this one since their day of skiving. James would ask what was wrong, Lily would answer, James would be confused, Lily would explain, James would be even more confused. They seemed to be going around in circles and not making any progress at all.

Despite history repeating itself, Lily tried to explain once again. “You see, she meant to not have me there. She scheduled the wedding in October so that I wouldn’t be able to come but, she hadn’t thought of Dumbledore. She deliberately did not invite me and told my mum that I was. I think I know when I’m not wanted,” she said, closing her eyes once again.

“So, are you angry at Petunia for not inviting you, are you angry that it’s so short notice, or do you not want for your sister to be happy?” he asked her.

Lily thought for a moment. Was she really angry at Petunia? _No, I’m not angry. I’m hurt._ It took her a while to realise what she was feeling. She was hurt that Petunia hadn’t invited her. If Lily was getting married, she would want Petunia there no matter how much they resented each other. It didn’t quite make sense, but they were sisters. Lily knew it would feel right if Petunia was at her wedding. 

“I’m not angry,” she said. “I’m hurt,” she echoed her thoughts to James.

Lily was looking down into her hands. She was fiddling with her robes and he could tell this was a delicate subject. Never before when they talked about Petunia did Lily look as vulnerable as she did now. He was sure that if he looked into her eyes, he would see pain and love for her sister, no matter what she told him. 

“I didn’t think I would be because we fought so much, but it does hurt when your own sister doesn’t want you at her wedding,” her voice was even and her eyes were dry, but James could tell that Lily was hiding her feelings very well. He didn’t say anything and let her continue.

“I want her to be happy, who wouldn’t for their flesh and blood? But why does she have to be so…vile? Why can’t she just try to be friendly to me? I’m not asking her to start lending me her clothes or anything, but maybe just cut down on the glares and snarky comments? Is it that hard?” she was now looking past James, staring out the window just past the other Marauders.

Just at that moment when Lily had stopped speaking, Peter gave out a loud shriek. The whole Common Room turned to look in the Marauders’ direction. Peter was dancing around Sirius, pointing at him and laughing. Remus was chuckling off to the side and started to open a book to read. Sirius was cursing the chess pieces and was pulling at his hair. 

James felt a tinge of annoyance towards his friends in that moment. He was about to reply to Lily’s comment only to be interrupted by Peter’s loud shrieks. He could now be heard chanting, “I beat Sirius! I beat Sirius! I finally beat Sirius!”

“Pettigrew! Will you keep it down, please!” came the stern voice of Professor McGonagall. James opened his mouth to respond to Lily once again, but was cut off by McGonagall. “Ms. Evans? If you are ready?” she asked. Lily nodded and started to rise out of her seat. 

“I’ll be right there, Professor,” she said.

McGonagall nodded and walked out of the Common Room. James was standing too now and was about to say something when Lily hugged him, quite suddenly, in front of everyone in the Common Room. James was so shocked, he didn’t move.

“Thank for listening, James. See you on Sunday,” she whispered in his ear. Then, quite swiftly, she pecked him on the cheek and was out the door.

James just stood there with his mouth slightly hanging open and eyes staring straight ahead. He looked quite funny. That was not fair of her. She can’t suddenly hug him like that, he wasn’t ready! Her breath left tingles on his skin and his neck was warm. And then, when he was already shocked enough, she had to go and kiss him on the cheek? How the hell did that happen?

“James…? Prongs?” said Remus, snapping in his face.

James shook his head slightly.

“Where’d Lily go?” he said furrowing his eyebrows.

His three mates were standing around him, looking at him with concern. “Are you okay, James? Don’t you remember anything?” asked Sirius.

“Of course I do. I left you guys to sit with Lily, where’d she go?” he asked again, looking around his mates to see if Lily was hiding behind them.

“James. That was five minutes ago. You sat down, you talked, McGonagall came, Lily got up, hugged you and left,” said Remus, recounting James’ own experiences to James.

James looked like an owl blinking rapidly with wide eyes.

“How do you know what I was thinking, mate?” he asked Remus with eyebrows raised.

Remus shook his head and closed his eyes. He rubbed his temples as Sirius and Peter were staring at James like he was a loon.

“What? What the hell is going on?” asked James, looking between his three friends.

“James, you weren’t thinking about Lily hugging you, it really did happen,” said Remus’ tired voice. (The full moon was tomorrow night and he needed sleep.)

“She’s hugged you before, mate. Why is it so unbelievable this time?” asked Sirius, sitting down in Lily’s chair.

“Wait, what? So you’re saying that actually happened? That I didn’t go off into some fantasy dream of mine and thought that up myself?” he asked, resuming his seat across from the seat occupied by Sirius.

“James, what else happened? Why are you overreacting over a hug?” said an annoyed Sirius. James was acting stupid and he was in an impatient mood after losing to PETER.

“She kissed me,” he said quietly, not looking at his friends. It seemed that he wasn’t talking to them at all.

The three friends perked up. “What was that, Prongs?” asked Peter.

James still did not look at them and didn’t answer. Instead, he touched his cheek where Lily had pecked him suddenly. He brought his hand in front of his face and looked at it thoughtfully. 

“James…” said Remus.

“Hmm?” he replied, still looking at his hand like it was a new, wonderful creature.

“What did Lily do that was so different this time?” asked Remus carefully, like he was trying to coax a child into giving him his favourite toy.

“I think she kissed me,” he said, finally looking at them.

“You think?” asked Peter.

“Yeah, see, I’m not totally sure it happened.”

The three of them looked at James for a second, and then burst out laughing. 

“You should see your face right now, Prongs! You look high!” howled Sirius.

“He’s high on LOVE, Sirius!” cackled Peter.

“Guys, leave him alone,” said Remus, wiping his eyes. “The poor man is whipped,” he said chuckling.

James gave no reply to his friends’ mockery. Instead, he smiled, too happy to be annoyed at his friends. In fact, he didn’t care if he was _whipped_ as Remus put it, as long it was to Lily. He just sat back in his chair and smiled at his friends with one thought running through his mind. _Lily kissed me._

…………………………

          Lily darted out of the Common Room as fast as she dared. She was blushing so hard that she looked like she had an excruciating sunburn. She almost ran McGonagall over with her levitated trunk, she was going that fast. Luckily, she stopped herself before she rammed into her Head of House and mumbled a quick apology. McGonagall made no reply and started walking briskly in the direction of Dumbledore’s office.

          

The walk towards the Headmaster’s office was relatively quiet leaving Lily to her thoughts and embarrassment.

Why had she done it? Truthfully, she didn’t quite know. Her body just didn’t seem to obey her and that’s why she moved so fast. It was a hug, quick whisper and kiss, then straight out the door. She shook her head to rid herself of the inward embarrassment going on inside her head. 

She tried to think of reasons why she could have done it. Maybe it was because James looked so damn sexy and she couldn’t contain herself? _No, cause I would have jumped his bones right then and there, not given him a pesky kiss on the cheek._ Maybe because he was listening to her when she really needed it? _No, he always does that; he would have a kiss at least five times a day._ Maybe because…

Lily kept running possibilities through her head, when she finally came across one that made her heart ache for him. It also seemed like the most obvious one and Lily mentally hit herself in the head for not thinking of it sooner.

She did it because she would miss him terribly even for only a weekend and being away from him would be like pouring even more crap onto a full plate of disaster. Her closeness with James caused her to get used to his presence. Not that she didn’t want to spend time with Marlene or anyone else, she did, but there just wasn’t a… _completeness_ of Lily when James wasn’t around. 

If James was not with her, she would miss his scent that would always make Lily want to curl up and sleep. It was such a comforting smell and made her feel relaxed. She would miss his enchanting laugh that would make her want to laugh along even if what he was laughing at wasn’t in the least bit funny. She would miss his dashing smile that made her heart thump and brain turn to mush. She never got like this in the summer, but she was more hooked than she ever was before. 

When she was not with him though, she wouldn’t be that bad because she knew that she would see him in a couple of minutes anyways. The wait wasn’t that bad as long as she had something to distract her. But this time, it would be for two days and Lily wasn’t sure if she would be able to do it.

She sighed out loud as she walked along. McGonagall looked back to her but continued walking and didn’t say a word. Lily let her eyes roam around the castle walls and the portraits that were shooting her friendly smiles. She made sure that her trunk did not stray anywhere and that it was clear distance of McGonagall. 

Finally, what seemed like an extended walk, the student and teacher arrived at the Headmaster’s office. McGonagall said the password— _Ginger Snaps_ —and the gargoyle leaped aside to show the spiralling staircase that lead to the magnificent room where they would find the wise wizard. 

The two of them stepped onto it and waited patiently as it rose to reveal the door. McGonagall knocked politely and opened the door when Professor Dumbledore’s voice beckoned them to enter.

“Good evening, Lily,” he said, folding his hands and smiling at the Head Girl.

“Good evening, Professor,” she replied as Professor McGonagall left the room. She put on a fake smile that made it seem like she REALLY wanted to go to this wedding.

“I trust that you are prepared to go home?” he said with twinkling eyes.

Lily hesitated a bit and answered with, “Hogwarts will always be my home, sir.” 

Professor Dumbledore nodded. “As it is to many other students and myself. I don’t know if I will ever be able to part with it. Anyways, come along, your parents are expecting you,” he said. 

He stood up from his desk and walked towards the fireplace. He threw the powder into the roaring fire and it instantly turned a brilliant green. 

“I expect that you have experienced Flooing before?” he asked, getting another sack of Floo powder.

Lily nodded and gulped. Last time it was with Marlene’s family while going to Diagon Alley. It was not one of Lily’s favourite ways of travelling.

“Excellent. Now I will send someone to gather you from your house on Sunday after lunch. I’m sure that it will be enough time?” he asked, levitating Lily’s trunk over to him.

“Yes, sir,” she replied. She walked over to Dumbledore as he placed her trunk into the fire leaving a space where Lily was to stand. He then handed her the sack of powder. 

“Keep this safe as it will be for your journey home. I could always send some more on Sunday, but it would be best to keep this one,” he said.

Lily nodded and started moving into the green flames.

“Oh and Ms. Evans,” said Dumbledore, stopping Lily before she shouted her destination.

“We rarely omit people from school, occasionally for a death in the family. But as you are Head Girl, I trust that you are responsible. So as this does not happen often, please do have fun,” he said, smiling at her.

Lily smiled and thanked the old man and was somewhat surprised that Dumbledore knew that she was utterly depressed about going, but again what didn’t Dumbledore know?

Dumbledore chuckled like he knew what Lily was thinking again and let her get on her way.

“Until Sunday, Ms. Evans,” he said smiling.

Lily nodded and shouted, “The Evans’ Household!”

With a swishing sensation, Lily stumbled into her parents’ fireplace.

…………………………

          “OH LILY!” A soft hand grabbed Lily out of the fireplace as she coughed out all the ashes that got into her mouth. Her eyes were burning and she could only see blurred images in front of her face. Lily saw from the corner of her eye, a blurred image of her trunk being lifted out of the fire and onto the living room floor. Then, she felt warm arms wrap around her and she found herself comparing them to James’. They weren’t as warm and strong as she liked, but they were comforting all the same. She then recognized her mother’s scent and hugged back.

          

“Hi, Mum,” she finally got out.

“Hello, Lily, dear!” her mother let go of her and Lily rubbed her eyes so that she could see better.

“How are you, dear?” her mother asked, brushing her robes of soot.

“I’m fine, Mum. Where’s Daddy and Petunia?” she asked, finally able to see again.

“Petunia’s over at Vernon’s and your father’s sleeping. I’m afraid that this wedding business is exhausting him,” said her mother in a tired voice.

Lily looked at her beautiful mother. She had Lily’s same green eyes, but blonde hair like Petunia’s. Her hair was slightly greying but it was hardly noticeable. Her mother’s face was gentle and caring; just like a mother’s face was supposed to be. But as Lily looked at her mother now, she saw wrinkles that were not present before and her eyes were drooping at the corners. Her smile seemed worn out and her eyes didn’t crinkle like they normally did. Her mother looked so tired and worn out, Lily just hugged her again.

“How are you, Mum?” she asked from over her mother’s shoulder.

“Oh, Hun. I’m fine, just tired is all. I’ve been up all night helping Petty with wedding preparations, you know how she is. Everything has to be perfect. I still can’t believe she’s hidden it from us for so long,” finished her mother in a whisper.

Lily let go of her and smiled. “I know. You should rest. I’m just going to go and unpack my things,” she said, levitating her trunk. 

Her mother took a sharp intake of breath and then started laughing. “I keep forgetting you can use magic now. It’s quite useful, Lily,” she said laughing again.

Lily smiled again and walked upstairs. She guided her trunk into her room, careful not to make any noise not to wake her father. She set her trunk on the floor and looked on her bed. There was a beautiful black dress lain out on top of it. It was a simple halter dress that flared out at the bottom. Lily held it up in front of her and smiled. It was very simple, but her mother knew what she was doing. It was a beautiful dress and Lily had the urge to try it on.

After changing into it, Lily stood in front of the mirror to look at herself. The dress fitted her perfectly and the silky fabric slipped on her slim figure. The black contrasted with her pale skin, her fiery red hair and startling green eyes. Lily’s looked away from the dress and looked at her face. Her hair was messy and dirty from the Floo, and her eyes looked tired. She messily tied her hair back and walked downstairs to show her mother.

She stopped midway down the stairs and she noticed her father was awake. She hadn’t heard him leave the room and walk downstairs. From a distance, she noticed his fatigue, very similar to hers and her mother’s. Her father was a tall man with brown hair with many grey flecks and blue eyes. He had a long face, much like Petunia’s, although it looked much better on her father than her sister. He was reading an old newspaper at the kitchen table and his eyes seemed to be slowly closing.

“Hi, Daddy,” she said cheerfully as she stepped downstairs.

Her father looked up at her and looked a bit startled for a second. Then, his face broke out in a huge smile and moved towards Lily to hug her.

“How are you, Honey?” he asked, giving her a bear hug and kissing her cheek.

“I’m fine, Daddy. How about you?” she asked him.

“I’m quite fine myself. Is that the dress you’ll be wearing for Petunia’s wedding?” he said, looking at Lily’s dress.

Lily nodded. “How does it look?” she asked him and her mother.

Mr. Evans smiled down at his youngest daughter and nodded his approval. “It’s beautiful,” he answered.

Lily turned to look at her mother. She had been cooking dinner but had stopped when Lily came downstairs. She had a small, gentle smile on her face. 

“Lily, Hun. You look great,” replied her mother.

“Thanks, Mum. It’s a beautiful dress, thank you,” said Lily.

Her mother nodded as her father went to sit at the kitchen table.

“You girls are growing up so fast, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said her mother returning to the dinner. She sniffled and Lily went over to hug her. 

“Aw, Mum. Don’t cry. Me and Pet will always be here,” Lily said.

“I know that, Hun. But your father and I won’t,” said her mother.

Lily froze. Her heart gave a painful thump in her chest and she tasted bile in her mouth. Her throat seemed tight and she was having trouble breathing. She knew what she had to tell them, but she didn’t know if she was ready. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart. She desperately wanted for James to be there. 

As she thought about James, she got a boost of confidence and swallowed the bile slowly coming up. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

“Mum, Dad. I have to tell you something,” she said with a shaky voice.

Her parents turned to her with a look of concern on their faces.

“What is it, Lily?” Lily’s mother asked.

“I think we should sit down,” said Lily.

Now her parents were really scared. They glanced at each other and gave Lily their undivided attention.

“Yes?” asked her father.

Lily gulped and sat down across from them.

“Okay, I’m not sure if this is an appropriate time to tell you this, but you have to know.”

Her parents were holding each others hands and were looking at Lily anxiously.

Lily swallowed again and continued on. “In my other world, there is dark and evil magic as well as good…” she started. 

The next hour, Lily told her parents about everything that was going on in her world. She told them of what kind of danger her and her parents were in just because they were not magical. She explained to them the mysterious deaths that had been happening were linked directly to Lord Voldemort. She told them about the aurors that were trying their best to catch the Dark Lord, but so far it seemed hopeless. Lily explained that Hogwarts was the safest place for her to be since Dumbledore was the only wizard that Voldemort was afraid of and that he wouldn’t dare to attack the school. And with much difficulty, she told them that there was a chance that her parents could be attacked.

Her mother had a stream of tears running down her face and her father was comforting her. Lily was finding it difficult to keep her tears in and desperately wished for James, not for the last time.

“So, because of this Dark Lord and his threats on us, I am scared of what he will do to…” Lily choked. She couldn’t say it. She closed her eyes as a few tears leaked out. “If something were to happen, I just want to make sure that you knew,” she said, he voice incapable of remaining even.

“Honey, come here,” said her dad, standing up.

Lily ran to her father and wrapped her arms around him. She cried into his shirt with her mother rubbing circles on her back. She wouldn’t know what to do if her parents died. She snuggled her face deeper into her father’s shirt and sobbed even harder. She didn’t want to lose them. No matter how much she was away from her parents, she always loved them deeply and would miss them when she was at Hogwarts. She felt so guilty this year when she had become so caught up with her own James problems that she didn’t take the time to write one measly letter to her parents asking them how they were. She completely disregarded the fact that her parents had endured so much for her to become a witch and she couldn’t even think of them that often. 

Her father was stroking her hair and kissing her head. He let go of her and her mother took over. Lily started crying all over again as she thought of the tiredness her mother’s face showed. Mrs. Evans soothed her and told her everything was going to be alright and that she should stop crying.

“Don’t cry, Lily. It’ll be okay, we’ll get though it,” she said. Lily looked up at her mother’s kind eyes, much like her own and saw that there was still a steady flow of tears coming down her mother’s face. 

“I-I’m sorry, this is my entire fault. If only I hadn’t gone to Hogwarts—,”

“Hush, Lily. This is not your fault in any way. This is all this Voldamurt’s fault, not yours at all. If something does happen, don’t you ever think that it was your fault, you hear me?” said her mother sternly.

Lily didn’t know if she could promise that but nodded anyways. She closed her eyes and hugged her mother once again. 

“Now, stop crying, Honey, and go change out of that dress. You have to wear it tomorrow,” said her mother, letting her go.

Lily nodded and wiped her eyes and nose. She almost forgot she was still wearing the dress, it all happened so quickly. Mrs. Evans resumed making dinner although none of them really felt like eating anymore. 

Lily quickly changed and ran back downstairs. She was determined to spend as much time with her parents this weekend, enjoying taking time away from homework, Head Patrols, worrisome crushes and just spending time with her family. 

…………………………

          James got up groggily on Saturday morning. He had Quidditch practice soon and their team needed it. They had a new chaser and beater both in fifth year. They were good, but still not quite good enough. The first Quidditch game of the year was two weeks away and Slytherin was playing Ravenclaw. That meant that Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff the week after. Hufflepuff was usually easy to beat, but they also got new players and they were pretty damn good. 

          

James put on his glasses and checked the time; 8:19. Practice was at nine and it was past eight so he was allowed to wake Sirius up now. 

“Psst. Sirius, wake up. Quidditch practice soon,” he said quietly, shaking his best mate awake.

Sirius grumbled and rolled over, ignoring James.

James rolled his eyes and tried again. “Sirius, wake up!” he whispered urgently.

“Go’way,” he grumbled, swatting James.

“QUIDDITCH PRACTICE. VERONICA WILL BE THERE,” he said in a loud whisper. 

Sirius opened his eyes but didn’t sit up. That was a change. “Veronica? Where?” he asked.

“Down at the Quidditch pitch. And shut up, Moony’s sleeping.”

The full moon was also tonight and their werewolf friend was exhausted. He always slept for the whole day on weekends and slept through most of his classes on weekdays. James looked at his mate and saw big purple bags hanging under his eyes. His face was pale and thin and he seemed twice his age, lying there in his four poster bed. James turned away and grabbed his broom from his trunk. 

Sirius and James walked down to the Quidditch pitch in silence and awaited their team members to arrive. They had three practices a week until their first game and they needed them. 

Sirius had a new partner, Jonathon Jenkins. He was a good beater although his aim was a little off. Sirius had to do some serious work with him to get him hitting straight. 

James was chaser with Angela Johnson and a new fifth year Gary Colts. Angela and James still had to get used to Gary’s flying style like they were with the previous chaser who had graduated the year before. 

The other players, however, were old to the team and were still excellent. Thomas Wood was a sixth year that could save almost anything. James was sure that he would make captain next year when James graduated. Then there was the seeker, Rebecca Myers. She was in fourth year and could see basically anything in any kind of weather. She was truly a gift from Merlin to the Gryffindors, and although she was shy, she was a crazy Quidditch player. 

James and Sirius flew around the pitch until they started to see figures in red and gold come walking towards them. They saw them mount their brooms and fly towards Sirius and James. 

“Morning,” yawned Angela as she flew up to James and Sirius. 

They nodded towards her and greeted Thomas Wood who had joined them shortly after.

Soon enough, the whole team was there, flying around the Quidditch Pitch. James gathered them together and explained that day’s practice plan. He told them to split up into their groups (the Keeper would go with the Chasers and the Seeker would go on her own) and practice with them. 

James smiled at his team but his mind was on something else. It was Saturday, meaning that it was Petunia’s wedding day, meaning Lily was having one of the worst times of her life. He sighed deeply because when Lily wasn’t around, he would feel depressed and empty and he would have to do something to distract him. 

Since he was supposed to be practising with his team, he flew towards the chasers. Angela passed him the Quaffle immediately and he zoomed towards the hoops. Thomas was not expecting James to come out of nowhere and panicked. James swerved and— _swoosh!_ The Quaffle flew straight through the centre hoop. Angela and Gary whopped as James flew back and smiled. They had just discovered a new play.

…………………………

          “And do you, Petunia Evans, take Vernon Dursley as your husband?” 

          

“I do,” came Petunia’s girlish, high pitched voice.

Lily stifled a yawn and kept the smiley, happy expression her face as she tuned out the wedding. It was the dullest wedding Lily has ever been too, she hoped that hers would not be like this. But, she had to admit that Petunia actually looked nice and genuinely happy. 

Lily glanced beside her at her mother and father. They had spent last night just talking and catching up with each other. But her father, having been very tired that day, went up to bed early and let Lily and her mother have some girl talk. Lily told her about James and how she always liked him. Her mother knew all about James’ feeble attempts to ask her out as Lily had always complained about him in her letters. Her mother shook her head at her daughter but smiled and laughed all the same. “I don’t understand you, Hun,” her mother had said to her. Lily laughed along with her and mother and daughter talked well into the night. 

“You may now kiss the bride.”

Lily looked away as Vernon snogged her sister. She was afraid that if she looked, she would either laugh out loud or gag. (I know it’s mean, but Lily couldn’t help it.) She did not want to find out which one would happen. 

When the music started again and the crowds starting clapping politely, did Lily look back towards her sister. The happy couple were walking down the aisle and out of the church. Lily’s mum and dad followed out after the wedding party to greet the guests. Lily quickly went after her parents, not wanting to be left alone. 

All this wedding business reminded Lily of James and her heart would give jolts through her body. Her pulse would quicken and she would heat up just by thinking about him. The absence of James would make every little thought or reminder of him ten times bigger. Every time she saw a dark haired boy around her age, she would imagine it was James until she glanced back at him and it was a different person all together that she has never met in her entire life. 

She really had to do something about this because it was getting out of hand. She would have to confront James, maybe ask him out? Lily immediately regretting thinking that as her heart pumped like crazy and she blushed deeply. She shook her head and walking aimlessly around the church until her parents would leave for the reception. 

But why was it so wrong that Lily should ask him out? There was nothing wrong with that, was there? _But what if he already got over me and it’ll just be awkward? Then, what happens?_ Lily tried not to think about what she would do if James didn’t like her anymore. She’d be so regretful that she never said YES to him the years before. She’d be forever heart broken and depressed. Also, their friendship would never be the same. James would be embarrassed and awkward, Lily would just be too sad to even be in the same room as him. She shook her head again and scowled. Honestly, she was supposed to be relaxing and NOT thinking about James. She sighed and walked back to the entrance where her parents were waiting.

…………………………

          “Good practice, team. See you Monday,” said James. He dismissed the team from inside the Quidditch locker room. It was a productive meet after all; Jonathon finally got his aim perfected with help from Sirius and the Chasers had developed three new plays. James was satisfied with the work today, but the distraction was now gone. 

          

Once the team left and James was walking back to the castle with Sirius, he wasn’t happy. Knowing that he would not see Lily when he got up to the Common Room made his stomach sink. He would be reminded of Lily wherever he went; the oranges and red of the leaves would remind her of her vibrant hair; the sun would remind him of how her eyes would shine. 

Knowing James for most of his life, Sirius knew that James was not happy that Lily was not at Hogwarts for the weekend.

“Cheer up, mate. It’s already Saturday, she’s coming back tomorrow,” said Sirius, patting him on the back.

James sighed and nodded solemnly. “I know but I still miss her,” he told Sirius.

Sirius rolled his eyes at his hopeless friend. “For Merlin sake, James. Just ask her out. She has to be crazy if she hasn’t seen you’ve changed,” said Sirius.

“Just because she’s seen it, doesn’t mean that she ready to accept it or that she likes me back,” he replied. (Sirius and James still thought that Lily didn’t like James because he was immature, but we all know that that isn’t true.)

“James, trust me on this one. She likes you back. You can see it when she’s with you,” said Sirius.

James shook his head. “You don’t know that,” he said.

“Oh, but I do,” said Sirius. 

James looked at him curiously, urging him to continue.

“Remember when Lily and I were partners in Potions?” asked Sirius. James nodded, furrowing his eyebrows in jealousy. “Don’t you remember her shooting you looks all through class?” he asked.

James was confused and shocked at the same time. That class was last week. He had been extremely jealous of Sirius that day because Slughorn had partnered Lily with Sirius while he was stuck with Peter. 

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice it,” said Sirius, shocked. 

James shook his head. “I was too busy glaring at Slughorn. You were probably wrong anyways,” said James.

“No, I’m pretty sure I was right. Unless she enjoyed looking at Peter or she was fascinated with the wall behind your head, she was looking right at you. Sometimes I had to physically pry her eyes from your handsome face,” said Sirius, smirking at James.

James rolled his eyes at his mate. How could he have missed that? He knew that Sirius wasn’t lying because he would never lie to James about Lily. But…

“Why didn’t you tell me this before, Padfoot?” he asked suddenly.

Sirius scratched his head. “Probably because it slipped my mind,” said Sirius shrugging. 

James eyes bulged out. “It slipped your mind? I’ve been obsessed with Lily for seven years, and something like this slips your mind?” asked James.

Sirius scratched his head again, looking off into the distance.

“Or maybe it was because Lily got embarrassed every time I caught her looking and I didn’t want to embarrass her further by telling you,” he said thoughtfully.

James stared at Sirius. Now he knew Sirius wasn’t lying. He was a prankster, yes, but he would never make up anything that had to do with James, Lily and their feelings (unless it was for a plan to get them together). 

The two best mates entered the Gryffindor Common Room together and found Marlene in one of the armchairs reading a book. James instinctively looked around for Lily before remembering that she was not there. He frowned again and took a seat near Marlene. 

“Morning,” said Marlene looking up from her book. 

“Morning,” grumbled James. 

Marlene cocked an eyebrow. “What’s up with him?” she mouthed to Sirius. 

“Lily,” he mouthed back. 

Marlene understood and smiled sympathetically at James, which he didn’t catch. She grimaced at Sirius, meaning that something had to be done with James and Lily, and returned to her book.

James grumbled again and stood. “I need a shower,” he said, going towards the staircase. The two of them watched as James stomped up the stairs and Sirius sat down in James’ spot. He sighed deeply and shook his head at the stairs where James had now disappeared. 

“That boy is hopeless,” he said looking at Marlene.

Marlene smiled again and closed her book. “If that’s his worst, he’s got nothing on Lily,” she said.

“Oh, no, no, no. James at his worst is lying down in his bed just looking at his ceiling all day. He won’t talk, eat, sleep, get up, anything,” said Sirius, shaking his head again.

“That’s better than having a child around you, she won’t ever shut up,” said Marlene, shaking her head like Sirius.

They both sighed heavily.

“Oy, where’s Remus?” asked Marlene curiously.

Sirius didn’t look up at her. “He’s not feeling well,” he replied casually.

Marlene furrowed her eyebrows. “Remus gets sick a lot, doesn’t he?” she asked.

Sirius now looked up at her. He seemed a bit worried, Marlene thought it was for his friend’s health. “Yeah, weak immune system,” he replied unconvincingly.

Marlene suspected something but let it drop. She resumed to her reading and Sirius announced that he would check up on Remus and James. 

…………………………

          Lily sighed and put her chin in her hand. She was sitting alone at her table watching the rest of the guests have fun at the reception. Since she was not part of the wedding party, she was not allowed to sit at the front table with her parents, which left her sitting with annoying aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. Currently, they were all on the dance floor leaving Lily to her thoughts, once again. 

          

“Would you like to dance?” said a large man to Lily. He was holding out his hand to her. Lily guessed he was a relative of Vernon’s.

“No, thank you,” she declined politely. She meant to give him a polite smile along with her answer, but it might have come out as a grimace as he made an offended face and stalked off to his family. 

When he was gone, Lily sighed and placed her chin back onto her hand. There were corny love songs playing and Petunia was dancing with Vernon in the centre of the floor. They were looking at each other adoringly and Lily grimaced again. She couldn’t help but think of James in this situation, she would probably be looking at him in the same way if he was here. She wrote a quick, scribbled note, left it on her mother’s plate at the front table and left. 

Lily walked outside into the cold weather of autumn. She wrapped her thin sweater around her arms and walked towards the nearest bus stop. She was walking a bit slowly because she was wearing uncomfortable high heels that were a bit too small. She shivered as the wind swept past her and blew her wavy hair around. _Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to leave after all,_ she thought to herself. But when the image of a warm fire, hot chocolate and the television popped into her head, Lily smiled and continued walking. 

She didn’t know how long it took her to get home, but when she did, Lily saw that the lights were not on. She shivered involuntarily; Lily never liked being home alone. She took off her shoes painfully and ran upstairs to change. She placed her new dress in her closet carefully and changed into the baggiest, warmest pyjamas she could find. 

When she got back downstairs, she turned on the light and looked around. The kitchen was messy from last night because Lily’s parents didn’t have time to clean anything up this morning or yesterday. Everything looked normal, so she turned on the TV and let her mind go blank. 

**_*Cough Review Cough*_ What was that? I think you know.**


	16. The Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter 16: The Calm Before the Storm**

          Lily woke up and rubbed her eyes. She noticed that there was a blanket on her and she snuggled in closer to it. The light was slowly coming in through the windows around her and she was still in the living room. _Hmm, must have fallen asleep,_ she thought to herself. She looked up at the big clock on the wall and saw that it was just past 10 in the morning. Lily hardly believed that she slept so long and she still felt slightly drowsy. She got up and walked into the kitchen. 

          

She made herself a quick breakfast and walked upstairs to take a shower. The hot water released the tightness of her muscles from sleeping on the couch and she just stood there enjoying it. Finally, when she had wasted most of the hot water in the house, she finished her shower and got changed quickly. 

After not finding anything to do, she decided that she would go wake up her parents. She was quite surprised that she was awake before they were, but she assumed they were out late last night. Lily remembered how she would wake up her parents when she was a little kid. Lily would watch cartoons while her mum would make breakfast and her dad would read the paper. She was smiling at the memory as she walked into her parents’ bedroom.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next.

…………………………

          James yawned as he opened his eyes. He winced as he moved his body under the covers. Last night had been the full moon where he and his animagi friends would accompany Remus the werewolf into the Forbidden Forest and the Hogwarts grounds. The full moons were always tough on James, Sirius and Peter, but it was nothing compared to what Remus went through once a month. James really couldn’t complain; he would never know the immense pain that came with being a werewolf or the amount of energy it took out of you. Sirius, James and Peter were doing this willingly, unlike Remus who had lycanthropy forced upon him. James, Sirius and Peter knew exactly what they were doing and had no right to complain when their best mate was in the Hospital Wing to pained to move. 

          

James decided to get up now because it was past noon. He winced again, this time rubbing his aching shoulders and neck. Being a stag holding heavy antlers on your head was an awkward feeling for a human to go through and was hell on your neck. Also, using these antlers to restrain a very strong, irritated werewolf wasn’t too good on your shoulders either. 

He yawned and stretched his arms out above him. He showered and dressed quickly. There was an urgent knock on his door and he hurried to answer it.

“Yes?” he asked confusedly.

“Professor McGonagall wants to talk to you,” said a small boy from his door. 

James stared at him oddly before telling him that he would be right down. The boy nodded and left quickly. James closed the door and scratched his head. What did he do this time? Could McGonagall know about last night? James froze and gulped. Could it be that their secret was discovered? He looked around frantically at his friends and wondered if he should wake them. _No, if she does know, then I will be the one that gets the punishment,_ he thought nobly. 

James nodded to himself and walked out of his dormitory, expecting to be on the receiving end of McGonagall’s wrath.

He walked downstairs and spotted Professor McGonagall standing at the entrance of the Common Room. James gulped but noticed the expression on her face. She looked distressed and terribly worried. She was fidgeting; James had never seen her like this. This made him even more anxious.

“You wanted to see me, Professor?” he asked nervously as he approached her.

She turned to his direction and nodded urgently. “Yes, Potter. Come quickly, something has happened.”

James almost fainted. Could it be his parents? He blanched and nodded numbly. He mimicked McGonagall’s brisk pace towards the Headmaster’s office. She said the password even before they reached the gargoyle and they both walked up the moving staircase to the office. 

“Professor Dumbledore?” said McGonagall’s voice once they entered the office. 

The Headmaster stopped writing and looked up at James and McGonagall. He looked solemn and weary; his eyes were dull and blank.

Now James was scared. He had never seen the two professors this distressed. He gulped down the vomit that was rising and sat down hastily. He never took his eyes from the Headmaster.

“Is it my parents, sir?” said James. His voice was squeaky and high, it sounded nothing like him. 

Dumbledore shook his head, but still looked gloomy. “It is Lily’s parents,” he replied.

If it was possible for James’ face to go any whiter, it did. His stomach dropped like a stone and his heart ached. It wasn’t his parents (for which he was grateful), but it was Lily’s (which took away all the relief that had come over him). 

He gulped. “Is she okay, sir?” It was hard to get those four words out of his mouth. Dumbledore said that it was just her parents and not her, so that meant she was okay, right? 

“I don’t know if losing your parents would make a person feel okay, but she is alive,” he said solemnly. 

James let out a breath he was holding in. He was beyond grateful that Lily was still alive; he didn’t know what he would do without her. But he was pained beyond words that she had to endure the death of her parents. 

“What about her sister?” he asked. 

“Her sister was at her husband’s house so she was unharmed as well.”

“Was it Voldemort?” James asked. He saw McGonagall flinch from the corner of his eye. He didn’t know she was still there.

Dumbledore nodded. “Not Voldemort himself, but his Death Eaters,” he replied. 

James winced. “What happened?” he dared to ask. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

“I’m still not sure of the whole story yet, Lily didn’t quite know herself. But I do know that her parents were attacked while Lily was sleeping,” Dumbledore replied.

“Wait, was Lily here, sir?” asked James.

“Yes, she came here this morning through Floo. She alerted me right after she found them,” said Dumbledore. 

“Where is she now?” he asked.

“She is at her house, preparing funeral arrangements with her sister,” Dumbledore replied.

“And sir, when will she be coming back?” James asked anxiously. He felt like he was interviewing Dumbledore, he was asking question after question after question.

“She will be back Wednesday, but will be excused from classes for the rest of the week,” said Dumbledore. “But the reason I asked you here is because all Head responsibilities will be put on you for the rest of the week due to the circumstances. I trust that you will be able to handle the responsibility?” asked Dumbledore, peering at him through his glasses. 

James nodded. 

“Very well then, you are dismissed,” said Dumbledore. 

“Er, excuse me, Professor?” he asked. Dumbledore looked up. “Er, would it be possible for me to go to Mr. and Mrs. Evans’ funeral?” he asked timidly. He saw McGonagall make an impatient gesture from his side, but he ignored her. 

Dumbledore didn’t answer for a moment. “You are aware, James, that we do not allow friends to go to funerals in families, only the child affected?” said Dumbledore. 

James nodded. “But, after losing her parents, sir, I just thought that she could use a friend,” he said. 

Dumbledore didn’t answer. He sat there peering at James, and James just looked back. There was a flicker in Dumbledore’s eyes and finally, Dumbledore answered.

“Very well, James. I will provide transportation to the funeral for you; you will be excused of classes for Wednesday only,” said Dumbledore.

James nodded, grateful that he would be able to go and see Lily. He didn’t want to think about the kind of state Lily would be in.

“You and Ms. Evans will come back together, I will send someone to collect you at the Evans’ household,” he finished. 

James nodded once again. “Thank you, Professor,” he said. 

This time Dumbledore nodded. “You are a good person, James. Now go get some rest, you look very tired,” he said. This time, there was a distinct twinkling in his eyes. James momentarily wondered what Dumbledore knew before he left the office behind Professor McGonagall. 

McGonagall left him at the gargoyle and headed in the opposite direction of James. He slowly made his way back to Gryffindor Tower, contemplating what he had just heard. He wondered how Lily was coping; he wanted so desperately to be there holding her, but it had to wait until Wednesday. 

Caught up in his thoughts, he didn’t hear the footsteps from behind him. Only when they called out to him did he turn around.

“Hey Potter!” said the voice. James recognized the voice even before he turned around. It was Bellatrix. 

“What do you want?” he asked impatiently.

“Tisk, tisk, Potty. I thought the Head Boy would have a bit more manners,” she said, mocking him. She was alone, but still had the superiority act going on. 

“Just answer the question,” he said, starting to get really irritated.

“No need for the attitude, Potty, just wanted to chat,” she said mock-innocently. 

James gritted his teeth and took all of his self-control to not grab for his wand and hex Bellatrix. His hand was twitching and in his mind, he was going through hexes and jinxes he could use on her. 

“Get on with it, Bellatrix,” he said.

“Fine, since you asked so nicely,” she said. There was a long pause to which James took deep breaths to control himself. “I was just wondering if your in-laws have six feet for digging underground?”

James made a noise of frustration and stalked off. He could hear Bellatrix’s mocking laughter resound behind him. At that moment, he was so frustrated with Bellatrix and everything going on that he didn’t stop to consider what Bellatrix said. It didn’t make sense in the literal meaning or course, but that one phrase held a deeper meaning that James was too annoyed to be bothered with. Thinking that Bellatrix was playing games with him, he put it to the back of his mind where it stayed for a while.

…………………………

          Lily numbly walked around her house. She only felt a dull _thump thump_ in her chest that told her she was still alive and a cramp in her heart that would grow whenever she saw something that reminded her of her parents. It was almost like her heart was rubbing it in; she was alive while her parents were dead. 

Dumbledore had arranged for people to take her parents to a funeral home. Usually when someone died, the dead bodies were brought to some kind of building or hospital to determine the cause of death, but Dumbledore somehow found a way to skip over all of that as they would not be able to find it. 

She wasn’t sure how she managed to get to Dumbledore’s office so quickly. The whole thing was a blurred memory now. All she remembered was that she walked into her parents’ bedroom, and then she was sobbing on the floor in Dumbledore’s office. 

          

Petunia had just left the house after arranging funeral arrangements. She was cold to Lily, but didn’t seem as sad as Lily did. Maybe it was a delayed shock? She shook her head and continued walking around the house. She wiped her eyes of the tears she didn’t notice before and sniffled. Lily found that she couldn’t even sob anymore after leaving Dumbledore’s office. The pain she was feeling was beyond crying. Tears would come, but not sobs. She didn’t feel anything besides pain and emptiness. 

Lily wondered what why she hadn’t been killed along with her parents. She was obviously in the house when her parents were attacked and they probably saw her lying there. Or maybe they didn’t? These thoughts tormented Lily as they swirled around her head. The only thing that she was a bit comforted by was that she had spent the weekend with them and that she had told them about Voldemort. They went knowing what was going on in Lily’s life. 

Lily promised her mum that she wouldn’t blame herself for what happened, but how could she not? Her parents were not wizards and could not do magic. Wasn’t it Lily’s responsibility to protect them from situations where they couldn’t defend themselves? Didn’t they protect Lily from the dangers in the world that she couldn’t face? 

Dumbledore didn’t think it would be a good idea for Lily to stay in her house, but she told him that she had no where else to stay for the funeral. Petunia would hardly talk to her; she would never let Lily stay with her and Vernon for a couple of days. Dumbledore eventually agreed that it was the best option and put enchantments around her house so that the killers couldn’t come back to finish the job. But staying in her house was a very reminder of her parents and she would find tears coming out of her eyes at the sight of everything.

After walking around the whole house besides her parents’ bedroom, Lily finally went into her own. It was where she would have the least reminders in because of the lack of things in her room.

She hadn’t truly lived in her bedroom since she was eleven and it showed. There were old picture frames of her old childhood friends and her family when they were much younger. She looked at her parents’ youthful faces and smiled. Hot tears were spilling down her face and she wiped them quickly. They all looked so peaceful and happy, even Petunia, who now looked like she would vomit at the sight of Lily. Her heart clenched painfully and she looked away from the picture. 

She turned her attention to her old dresser with her mirror sitting on top. She saw herself through the mirror and no longer saw the little girl sitting in her photographs. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed red. There was a small fleck of green seen amongst the red that were her eyes. Her hair was messy and was going in many directions. Aside from looking horrible, her face showed an immense pain. It brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes and Lily looked away hastily. 

She again turned her attention elsewhere. On her bookshelves were her favourite stories that she would read over and over again into the night when she was younger. She looked at them and realized that she hadn’t read them in such a long time. Since being accepted into Hogwarts, she lost most interest in Muggle things and turned to magical things. She read her textbooks simply because they were enough to hold her interest. She got up and took one of the books from the shelves. She dusted off the dust that had been gathering around it and flipped through the book. She remembered all the stories well even though it had been seven years since she had read them. Taking the book with her, she sat down on her bed and started to read, trying to forget about the hollowness inside her heart.

…………………………

          Wednesday came and Lily wore the same black dress that she wore to Petunia’s wedding. She knew she would end up wearing it again one day but she didn’t think that it would be this soon. She tied her hair up in a ponytail because she didn’t feel like doing anything special with it. She caught her reflection in the mirror again and it didn’t look any better than what it did Sunday. 

          

Lily walked downstairs and waited for Petunia to come and pick her up. She no longer had an appetite but when she did eat, she would get sick of it very easily. 

Monday, Lily continued walking around her house and sometimes went on walks. Tuesday, she cleaned her house and packed up some of her parents things. That was the hardest part. Packing up her parents things hit her hard that they weren’t going to come back. That it was over. It was done. Lily couldn’t keep that amount of pain inside her heart for that long, so she let it out. She sobbed in her parents’ room for half the day until she was too exhausted to move. 

As she waited for Petunia and Vernon and looked around the room, thoughts of her parents would pop up continuously in Lily’s mind and bring more and more tears. She would think of how her father called her his “Little Head Girl” in the summer and it would annoy Lily to no end. Now, she would give anything just to hear his voice again. She thought of her beautiful mother and how her face was marked with wrinkles. The image of her tired mother brought immense sadness into Lily’s heart and she grabbed at her chest and heaved. It was so painful to breathe easily without a sharp pang in her chest. 

A car beeped from outside and Lily jumped up. She grabbed a jacket and opened the door. Petunia had a disgusted expression on her face as she waited in the car for her sister. Lily walked out of the door and locked it behind her. She quickly walked to her brother-in-law’s car and climbed into the back seat. 

“Mum and Dad left a will, everything is to be split between the two of us. I get to determine what’s mine and what’s yours. The house is mine, but I’m selling it. I’m going to clean it out and send you everything that will be yours. After the funeral, I want nothing to do with you. Don’t contact me. It will be as if you never existed.”

As Petunia finished talking, they were already halfway to the funeral home. Lily was too depressed to even care what Petunia said; she could have left her a fleck of dust in the house, Lily would be indifferent. Really, none of that mattered now.

…………………………

          Lily could hear no words at the funeral. Her eyes were glued to the caskets in the front of the funeral home. She paid no attention to the minister as he talked about such great people the Evanses were. Her parents were much too young to have passed away and had probably only lived for half of their lives. 

It was open casket so Lily could see the pale faces of her mother and father. Her mother’s once plump and rosy cheeks were sallow and pale; her blond hair looked dull. Lily wished so greatly to see her vibrant green eyes once again, but she knew they would be dead and empty. Her father’s lively blue eyes were probably long gone and his face was now an unnatural shade of white. 

          

Lily couldn’t explain the amount of pain she was feeling. She was being emotionally separated from her parents, they left her. When she left for Hogwarts, she would at least know that they were still somewhere, living and she could contact them if she needed too; they were just in a geographical location. Now, her parents were in a whole different world, a different life and she was alone. 

Somehow, Lily found the strength to go outside to the burial. So far, she managed to keep it together, to look put together. She numbly followed Petunia to the cemetery behind the church not really knowing what was going on. Only when the caskets were being lowered did Lily realize what was really happening. Her parents were being buried. They were being put away. They were going away forever. They were NEVER coming back. 

Lily gasped and collapsed onto the floor. She heaved great breaths of air but it was still hard to breath. She did not accept the hands of people around her that were trying to comfort her. She did not listen to anyone. Lily just stared wide-eyed at the soil that was slowly covering the beautiful wooden caskets. She almost reached out to stop the soil from covering her parents when a warm hand grabbed her arm and held her back. Lily didn’t look over to the stranger but continued heaving and gasping for breath. The warm hands moved to her back and started rubbing circles onto it. Lily closed her eyes as the pain in her chest became unbearable. Death’s sharp dagger was jabbing over and over again into Lily’s heart. The warm arms were now pulling her up from the ground. She felt them wrap around her. 

Lily couldn’t hold it in any longer. Huge, wracking sobs took over her body. The only things keeping her up were the strong arms of the stranger that seemed so familiar. But she couldn’t think. The only thing she could do was let out the pain in the only way she could, through her tears. When she felt like she was drained of all energy, the arms would hold her tighter again and Lily would erupt in more tears. 

When Lily’s sobbing calmed down into a steady flow of tears, she felt soft lips kiss her forehead. She closed her eyes and accepted the stranger’s comfort. 

Finally, when she had enough strength to hold herself up, Lily looked around her. Everyone seemed to have left and it was just her and the stranger. She looked up at the stranger’s face. If he wasn’t still holding her in his arms, Lily would have fallen on the floor again. And of course, who else could it have been besides James? She gasped in shock and studied his face to make sure it was really him. His eyes were filled with concern and pain for Lily and there were worry lines in his face. She could see that his eyes were glistening, like he had been crying as well. This was too much for Lily to take in and did the only thing she could. She started crying into James’ chest once again as he whispered in her ear and kissed her head.

Lily cried for her parents. They had left her and she would never see her mother’s beautiful face or hear her father’s hearty laugh. She would never be able to tell them that she loved them and that she was so thankful for everything they did for her. She wanted to be their little Lily again.

Lily cried for Petunia. Their parents just died after her wedding and she can’t even cry? She just looked disgusted and bored. It wasn’t fair that such great parents had such a cold hearted daughter like Petunia. And how does she respect their lives? By shunning her only family left and extinguishing all strands of hope of reconciliation of the two sisters. Lily was going to make an effort to rekindle their relationship, but if Petunia wasn’t willing, than there was simply no hope.

Lily cried for James. He was such a great friend, coming all the way over here to comfort Lily. He came all the way over here to be with Lily when she had no one else. She cried because he was the boy she loved and she was too afraid to tell him. She cried because her parents never got to meet the boy that made her so happy.

“Just let it all out, Lily,” said James’ soothing voice in her ear.

She shuddered and let out one more sob. She wrapped her arms tightly around James, never wanting to let go and never wanting to leave this spot. 

…………………………

          Lily’s sobbing filled his ears and went like an icicle straight into his gut. It made him wince inwardly but he couldn’t show weakness when Lily was so fragile. He had to be Lily’s pillar of strength when she could barely stand up on her own. 

          

When he had first seen Lily from the back of the room, he could see that there was no expression on her face. It was neutral; not sad, angry, happy, nothing. But, her eyes were red, so James assumed she had been crying before. He worried that she would just keep in inside her for a long time and finally, one day, it would be too much for her to handle and it would tear her to pieces. 

When they made their way outside, James tried to get to Lily. He wanted to be there for her like he told Dumbledore he would be. When he finally managed to move to the front of the group, Lily was sitting on the floor, gasping. She reached out in front of her and James took his chance to appear to her. He tried to comfort her in the best way he could, but it didn’t seem to be working. Her face contorted in pain as the bystanders started to walk away. When most of them were turning away, James carefully lifted Lily from the ground and held her in his arms. James was so shocked by Lily’s response that he almost let her go. The moment his arms were around her, she started shaking violently and unbearable shouts of pain and agony were coming from her small figure. Tears poured down her pale face and were absorbing into James’ shirt.

He just held her tightly as she clung to him and his eyes filled with tears at the immense loss Lily was feeling. James’ heart was clenching so painfully in his chest that the girl he loved so deeply was in so much agony; he would have done anything so that she wouldn’t be able to feel this anymore. 

When she it seemed that the worst was over, James kissed her forehead and loosened his grip a bit. He didn’t know if Lily realized it was him, but he didn’t care as long as she was safe. When she finally looked up at him, she didn’t seem to believe her eyes. Her face horribly red and puffy and tears were still slowly coming down. James’ heart wretched at the look of pain on her face, but thumped at how beautiful she was, even at a time like this. He just looked her over until she started to cry again. He held her tighter against his chest until she stopped crying. She then hugged him back and they remained in that position for a while. 

James closed his eyes and knew he would regret what came out of his mouth next. “We should go, Lily,” he said quietly. 

Lily didn’t move for a bit and she nodded into his chest as a reply. He smiled and took her hand. He kept her close to him because she was so fragile. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest and his mind was racing, but he kept his cool. Lily breathed in deeply and closed her eyes as James guided them. 

“Where’s your house, Lily?” he asked softly. He hated that he to bother her with something like this while she was suffering. 

Lily looked up at him, the pain was still echoing in her eyes. She gently pulled his hand towards the left and told him the directions quickly. She said this all quietly and rushed like if she was caught talking, she would be punished. 

James nodded and guided them down the street, following Lily’s directions. He kept giving her words of encouragement as she slowly dozed off while walking. He wrapped his arm around her as they walked to keep her steady and she leaned against him. When they were about 5 minutes from the house, Lily fell asleep completely. She almost fell on the ground if it hadn’t been for James’ reflexes. He didn’t want to wake her, so he picked her up in his arms just like in the tunnel leading out of Hogsmeade and into Hogwarts. 

When they arrived at the house, James saw that Professor McGonagall was waiting for them at the door. He was quite shocked to see her, but Dumbledore did say he’d send someone to pick them up. McGonagall saw Lily in James’ arms and ran towards the two teenagers. 

“Potter! What is going on?!” she asked, outraged and probably a bit surprised.

“She fell asleep on the way here, Professor,” he said, a bit embarrassed. 

“Oh, well, that’s understandable. Come quick, let us go inside,” she said, rushing back over to the house. 

James followed her and waited patiently with Lily in his arms as McGonagall undid the enchantments that Dumbledore had put on the house for Lily’s safety. When she was finished doing what needed to be done, she opened the door and James quickly followed her inside. 

Just as he was putting Lily on the couch, a thought popped into his head.

“Wait, how do I know you are the REAL Professor McGonagall?” he asked suspiciously.

McGonagall gave James a stern look that only she could pull off. “Potter, don’t you think that should have been the first question you asked me? But, if you really do need your proof, I shall give you some,” she said, annoyed. 

Where Professor McGonagall stood was now occupied by a tabby cat with square markings around the eyes. James knew that McGonagall was an animagus; one out of seven _registered_ in the whole magical world. Of course, there were three unregistered animagi running around Hogwarts. 

The tabby cat transformed back into McGonagall and James looked partially embarrassed. 

“Well, since you know that it really is me, shall we get back?” she asked sternly, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. 

James nodded. “But what about Lily’s things, Professor?” he asked.

McGonagall wordlessly lifted her wand and Lily’s trunk came floating down the stairs and straight to McGonagall’s feet. She levitated it to the fireplace. Then, she quickly lit a fire and tossed some powder into it. The flames leaped green and McGonagall motioned for James to go first.

“Take Ms. Evans with you. I will follow with her things,” she said. 

James nodded and picked Lily up again. He stepped into the green fire and said, “Dumbledore’s office!” in a clear voice.

Soon enough, James was stumbling out of the fire and into the familiar office of the Headmaster. Lily stirred in his arms but did not wake. James looked around the room and his eyes landed on the Headmaster, sitting at his desk, looking at James.

“Welcome back, James,” said Dumbledore smiling gently. “Ah, and I see you have Ms. Evans with you,” he said with his twinkling eyes. 

James blushed and put Lily down in the closest seat. The absence of the Lily’s body was strange to him since he had kept some sort of physical contact with her for a while now and he missed it. 

When Lily was sleeping comfortably on the couch, McGonagall came through the fire with Lily’s things. She placed them on the floor next to Lily’s sleeping figure and dusted herself off.

McGonagall and Dumbledore talked but James heard no word of it. He was looking at Lily’s face. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she was fidgeting in her sleep. She looked very distressed and a bit scared. He started to move towards her when she gave a piercing scream and opened her eyes. 

 …………………………

          _Lily was standing in her parents’ bedroom. Her mother was getting ready for bed and her father was reading a book in bed. Her heart ached for the sight of her parents living again and she rejoiced. She went to walk towards them, but she couldn’t move. She tried opening her mouth but she couldn’t speak. She tried everything, but to no avail._

_“Hun, are you coming to bed?” asked her father, looking up from his book._

_“Yes, I’m almost done,” came her mother’s voice from the bathroom._

_There was a crash and Lily’s father looked up once again. He furrowed his eyebrows and got up._

_“What was—,” her father started. The bedroom door burst open and two black figures came into the room. A flash of green erupted from what looked like a wand and hit Lily’s father in the chest. His shocked face was frozen and he dropped to the ground._

_Her mother came running out of the bathroom to see what was going on. The other black figure turned to her and the same flash of green hit Lily’s mother. Lily heard an ear-splitting scream and opened her eyes._

…………………………

Lily looked around and realized that the scream was coming from her. Her eyes were wet and she was no longer in her parents’ bedroom. She was not at her house. She was not at their funeral. Where was she?

Her vision was somewhat blurred, but she could make out the familiar shapes of the Headmaster’s office. She looked around and saw a figure standing close to her. It was dressed all in black and it was approaching her.

“Get away from me!” she screamed, holding her hands out in front of her. The figure stopped moving. She closed her eyes and started bawling. She missed her parents so much and now she knew how they died. They didn’t even get a chance to fight back at all. They were unprepared; but even if they were, they wouldn’t have been able to defend themselves anyways because they were not fairly matched. 

Lily heard a voice shout something and a flash of light come towards her. Everything went black.

…………………………

“NO!” shouted James. McGonagall had stunned Lily when she had yelled at James to stay away. He quickly walked towards her and wiped her face.

“Lily? Lily, can you hear me?” he asked her.

“James, she will be quite alright. Professor McGonagall has just stunned her, she was in no condition to go anywhere like that,” said Dumbledore’s solemn voice from behind him. 

James ignored him and continued to call her name to see if she was responsive. It wasn’t until a firm grip on his arm pulled him back that he stopped. 

“James, stop,” said Dumbledore’s voice. 

James gave up and stepped away from Lily. He collapsed into the chair behind him and closed his eyes. Lily’s scream froze his insides and crushed his heart. He wanted to take away whatever was causing her so much grief and pain, but he knew he couldn’t. It had shocked him that Lily yelled for him to get away from her; he was only trying to help. 

When he opened his eyes, he saw McGonagall leaving with Lily levitating in front of her. He was about to shout out, when Dumbledore silenced him.

“She’s going to the Hospital Wing, James. I assure you that she will be quite fine,” he said. The twinkle that was present in his eyes was now extinguished and he looked anguished.

“Professor, do you know what happened?” James asked. 

“I’m not sure, but I assume that Lily had a dream about the incidents of Saturday night,” he said sadly.

“But, wasn’t Lily sleeping? How could she had known what happened?” asked James, confused.

“It is possible that she, herself, imagined what could have happened. Also, it is rare, but possible that she saw the actual incident in her mind from the perspective of a bystander. It is impossible to figure out which one she experienced without interrogating the killers and finding out what really happened,” said Dumbledore. 

James was still shocked at Lily’s outburst that he didn’t fully understand what Lily had just seen. When he left Dumbledore’s office and went back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, did he realize that Lily had just witnessed her parents being murdered. She had seen what children get nightmares about, seen what adults fear. The amount of torment she was feeling must have been unexplainable. 

He walked into the Gryffindor Common Room in his all black attire, acknowledged no one, answered no questions, stopped no where, and made straight his way straight up to his dormitory. 

He lay down in his bed and stared at the ceiling, something he was doing more and more often. For some reason, the comment that Bellatrix had made was repeating over and over in his mind. _In-laws have six feet for digging underground._

**This is as far as I go for now. Thanks for reading (if you are reading, and hopefully you are). Please reviewww**

**Umm, if you want Chapter 17, I need to at least know some people are reading it so that I can update and know that this is not a complete waste of my time...so review, as I have said many, many times over again. If no one does review, I will assume that no one i reading and therefore discontinue updating, an you don't want that do you? (Hopefully you don't :S)**

**Thanks XD**


	17. Lost and in Pain

**Chapter 17: Lost and in Pain**

          Lily opened her eyes to a bright, white light. Her first thought was that she was dead and that she would see her parents again. When she opened her eyes for the second time, she discovered her thought was incorrect. She sat up in the bed she was lying in and looked around her. It was the Hospital Wing. She felt tears rush into her eyes as she was once again disappointed that she did not get to see her parents again. She almost wished she were dead just to see them.

          _Lily, you are much too young to die now. You have so much to live for. Enjoy your life, Lily, as it will be shorter than you imagine. Don’t worry, Hun. You will see us soon enough._ Lily heard the familiar voice resound around her and she turned her head left and right in search of her mother’s voice. She realized that it was all in her head and she curled up into a ball on her bed. She felt cold and abandoned.

…………………………

          James walked into the Hospital Wing after Thursday’s classes and quickly located Lily’s red hair amongst the piercing white. He quickly rushed to her bed and saw that she was fast asleep. He sat down next to her bed and looked over the Head Girl that was asleep. 

          

Lily’s face was stressed and stained with tears. She had her legs folded to her chest and her arms securely around them. James stroked her unruly red locks and placed a strand behind her ear. She stirred under his touch but did not awake. Madam Pomfrey was not in the room, so James placed a lingering kiss on her cheek and left the room.

…………………………

James woke with a start Saturday morning. He had fallen asleep pondering on what Bellatrix had said and his dreams were laced with feet and digging. Of course he hadn’t realized what it meant the night before, but now it was only crystal clear. How he could have missed it was a mystery to him and he cursed himself at his slow uptake. He quickly got dressed, stumbling as his foot got stuck in his pant leg. 

Remus yawned and rubbed his eyes as James shuffled around the room trying to locate a t-shirt. 

“What are you doing, Prongs?” asked Remus yawning once again. 

James had of course told his best friends of the terrible incident that had befallen Lily. They had been surprised and saddened by the news. Sirius was probably the most affected because the people who did this to Lily were friends of his family. He resented them and was in a foul mood for a long while. 

“I just discovered something about Lily’s parents and I have to talk to Dumbledore,” he said quickly, still searching. 

Remus sat up in his bed at the mention of Lily’s parents. “What is it?” he asked.

“No time to explain now. I have to see Dumbledore,” said James. 

“There’s a t-shirt lying in your trunk, mate,” said Remus. “Wake me up when you get back,” said Remus. 

James quickly rushed over to his own trunk and looked through it. Indeed, Remus was right about his t-shirt and James cursed again. 

He ran quickly to the Headmaster’s office and said the password. James made his way up the steps quickly and knocked on the door. The voices on the other side of the door instantly ceased as Dumbledore called for James to enter. 

“Professor! Bellatrix Black had something to do with it!” said James as he entered. He was out of breath from running all the way to Dumbledore’s office. 

“What is it that you are accusing my great-great granddaughter?” asked the portrait of Phineas Nigellus after James’ outburst. 

“James, you are going to have to explain yourself as I have no idea what you are talking about,” said Dumbledore, ignoring Phineas.

James breathed deeply and explained what had happened when Bellatrix had approached him. 

“And she asked me if my in-laws had six feet for digging underground! That means…” James face tinged pink a bit. He hadn’t really thought of the actual explaining to Dumbledore, all he knew was that he had to do it. It was going to be a bit embarrassing. 

“Yes?” asked a patient Dumbledore. Now, all the portraits around the room were listening avidly to James’ speech. 

“Er, right. Well…” James coughed uncomfortably. “I think she meant my in-laws as Lily’s parents, because of well…you know,” he finished, pulling at his collar.

“I’m afraid, James, that I don’t know,” said Dumbledore, his eyes shining with amusement.

James blushed slightly and gulped. Was Dumbledore actually going to make him say it out loud? “Er, well because I, uh. I like Lily, so I guess she assumed that we were going to get married or something,” he finished very quickly. 

Dumbledore looked quite pleased, but urged him to continue. “I see. Would you care to explain the rest?” he said.

James nodded. The hard part was over. “And the ‘six feet for digging underground’ represented the six feet underground that people are buried! She had something to do with it because she knew about it before you or I did, sir!” he finished. 

Dumbledore contemplated James’ explanation and stared at his hands. James waited impatiently while Dumbledore thought. 

“Very well. Thank you, James. You may leave,” said Dumbledore.

James gaped. “What? You mean that’s it? What about Bellatrix?” he asked. 

Phineas Nigellus scoffed from his portrait. “I told you, Dumbledore. Teenagers have no respect for their elders these days,” he said disapprovingly. 

They both ignored him and Dumbledore answered James. “We cannot do anything about Bellatrix since she did not admit to being connected to the deaths. All that she revealed was that she knew about the deaths, which she could have found out from a different source. All we can do is keep an eye on her, that is it, I’m afraid,” said Dumbledore. 

James nodded glumly. He was so convinced they could put Bellatrix away for this, clearly he wasn’t thinking everything through and was a bit naïve. He hung his head and walked out of the office, mumbling an apology for intruding while he left. 

…………………………

          Lily had stayed in the Hospital Wing since she came back and it was now Saturday. Madam Pomfrey made her stay because she insisted that Lily needed the Dreamless Sleep potion on a regular basis. Lily would wake up in the middle of the night crying and Pomfrey would have to rush over and give her the potion before she was able to fall back asleep. She had gotten slightly better since Thursday; meaning that she no longer cried during the day, although she still felt an ache and hollowness in her chest. 

          

Lily had had plenty of visitors during her stay in the Hospital Wing but only allowed her close friends to visit. She didn’t want only acquaintances coming and having a Pity Party for her. She wanted people to be genuinely concerned and not just come to see her because she was Head Girl and they felt they had a certain responsibility to wish her the best. 

Marlene had visited Lily the most out of everyone. She said that James had told her what had happened when he found out. She wanted to be there for Lily as well, but McGonagall wouldn’t let Marlene ask Dumbledore for permission to leave the school. Marlene and Lily had both cried in each others arms when she came to visit Lily in the Hospital Wing. Shortly after Marlene came, Nicole and Melissa visited which caused even more tears to come. 

Even the Marauders had come to visit her. They had brought her chocolates and things that might amuse her. Sirius had even given her Lily flowers and put them on her bedside table. Lily hugged them all and cried once more. 

The only person that hadn’t come to visit her was James. She was disheartened that he had not come after he comforted her at the funeral. Did she not mean anything to him? Didn’t he know that Lily depended on him to keep her safe? That he was the only one left to protect her? _Well he would know if you told him,_ she thought to herself bitterly. _Well fine. If he wants to avoid me like that, then I guess two can play at that game. I don’t need him anymore._ Lily was quite shocked when this thought popped into her mind. Where had that come from? Why had she thought that? She knew that she never would be able to do that, but a part of her wanted too. She shook her head and pushed the thought to a corner of her mind.

On top of all the thoughts of James, were still millions of thoughts of her parents. She still got dreams; they were the reason for her prolonged stay in the Hospital Wing. They were always the same; Lily would be frozen in her place as she witnessed her parents being murdered by black cloaked figures. Even though the dreams were not getting better, she was going to beg Madam Pomfrey to let her out of the Hospital Wing that day. It was too sterile, too white, too blank, too perfect. It reminded her of Petunia and the perfect life she led. It was a constant reminder that her jumbled life would never be as calm, collected and normal as Petunia’s. She had to get out of there, and quickly. 

“Madam Pomfrey, please. I have to get out of here. I can’t stand it anymore,” said Lily in an emotionless voice. The only emotion she would show now was sadness. 

Pomfrey regarded her with sad eyes. “Are you quite alright now, Ms. Evans?” she asked. 

Lily nodded although she knew that night would be the same as always. “Please. I need to get out.”

Pomfrey continued cleaning, then looked up at Lily. “Very well, Ms. Evans. But take some potion, just in case,” said Pomfrey. 

Lily nodded and took the potion from her hands. She thanked her for her kindness and rushed out of the pristine walls of the Hospital Wing. 

…………………………

          James numbly walked around the castle. He had Quidditch practice in a few hours and he had time to waste. The short meeting with Dumbledore had lowered his spirits quite a lot. He knew that Bellatrix did this to Lily. She deliberately wanted to see Lily suffer. She wanted to see her hurt. She wanted to bring pain to Lily’s eyes. The thought of it made James’ blood boil and his hands clench. His heart would thump widely in his chest and his look would turn murderous at the image of Lily’s pain-filled eyes. 

          

But, at the thought of Lily, he would feel guilty. The anger directed at Bellatrix was now directed at himself. He hadn’t gone to see her since Thursday and she wasn’t even awake then. It was obvious that he was avoiding her, but he didn’t really know why. Was it because it would be awkward the first time they talked after the funeral? Was it because he wasn’t sure how Lily would react? Was it because he was hurt at how Lily had shouted at him? James didn’t know. 

As he walked onto the floor that held the Hospital Wing, he stopped. His mind did some quick thinking and he debated against himself. Finally, he made a decision and stomped in the direction of the Hospital Wing. At the door, he stopped and thought for a moment. 

_Should I go in?_ he thought.

**Of course you should, you prat.**

_But what do I say after not seeing her for three days?_

**Don’t think about that now, just go in and see her! You know you want to.**

James thought about that point for a second. It was true enough. He did want to see her. Badly. No matter how horrible she looked, she would always be beautiful in James’ eyes. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, touch… _ahem._ Anyways. 

**Stop being a chicken and go in there already, Potter!**

****

James nodded to himself and opened the door to the Hospital Wing. His heart was thumping and his pulse was racing. Who knew going to visit someone in the Hospital Wing would make a guy so nervous, eh?

“Hello, Mr. Potter,” said a solemn voice from his side. 

James turned towards the downcast matron. 

“Where’s Lily?” he asked, confused.

“She left this morning. She said she couldn’t stand the Hospital Wing anymore. I had to let her go,” she said. “Poor girl, never seen someone so broken in my life,” she said sadly. 

James gulped as his stomach twisted into uncomfortable knots. Lily was _broken_ and he had been avoiding her. He wasn’t there for her. He instantly felt so guilty and bounded from the room. He ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower where he ran into Remus. 

“Whoa, Prongs! Where are you rushing too?” he asked after steadying himself. 

“Have you seen Lily, Remus?” he asked urgently.

Remus gave him a queer look and nodded. “She just came in. Gone to sleep, I think. She looked pretty tired out,” he said. 

James closed his eyes in frustration and dropped into the armchair closest to him. 

“What’s up, mate?” asked Remus. 

“You know that I haven’t visited her since Thursday?” said James, looking down at his shoes. 

Remus looked shocked. “But, you said you did,” he said thickly.

James grimaced. “I chickened out,” he said.

Remus furrowed his eyebrows at James. “Why?” 

James shrugged lamely. “I’m not sure. Something just stopped me from going. I don’t know what,” said James. “I think I was scared of what her eyes would show,” said James suddenly.

Remus looked confused. “And what would that be?” asked Remus. 

“Pain.”

Remus made no expression on his face and looked at James. James looked down at his shoes and both boys remained silent. 

“You should see her James. I think that you are the one she really needs right now,” said Remus quietly. 

James looked up at Remus with a pained expression on his face. He knew it was true but he didn’t know if he would be strong enough to support her. He didn’t know if he would be able to endure Lily’s anguish with her. He hated seeing her so distressed when he knew he couldn’t do anything about it. 

“I don’t know if I can do it, Remus,” said James gravely. 

“You have to, James,” replied Remus.

“But how do I know if I’m actually helping her? How do I know if I’m doing anything right?” he asked desperately. 

“Whatever you do, James, it’s better than what you’re doing now,” answered Remus.

“And what am I doing now?”

“Backing away because you don’t know what to do. You’re being a coward.”

“Well, you try being in my position!” James exploded. Remus had insulted him and James thought it was uncalled for. He stood up and gave Remus a hard look. He couldn’t take it anymore. He was stressed and confused and he was going to let it out. “BLOODY HELL!”

Remus didn’t reply and his face didn’t show anything. He wasn’t confused, shocked, angry, nothing.

“BLOODY SAY SOMETHING!” said James, angrily. The whole Common Room turned to look at James and Remus.

Remus just stared back with a neutral face. “Just go and see her, James.” And with that, he stood up and left. 

James stood there huffing, his face red and his head turned to the portrait door. All eyes were still on him and he glared at all of them. He stomped upstairs to his dormitory. He quickly grabbed his broomstick and put the invisibility cloak over him. 

James rushed down to the Quidditch Pitch without being seen. He hung his invisibility cloak in the Quidditch Locker Room and quickly flew up into the air. The sky was cloudy and the wind was cold. His face was set and his jaw clenched as he flew around trying to clear his mind and forget about the words that Remus spoke. He took sharp turns and did flips in the air, but the words still stuck in his mind. _You’re being a coward._

…………………………

          “Good practice, team. Hufflepuff in two weeks, keep your heads up,” said James as the Gryffindor Quidditch team left the locker room. 

          

That practice had been hard on the team. James was frustrated and he took it out on the team. He worked them twice as hard. And to add on to his pushing, it started to rain and the autumn weather was really coming on. So when the Gryffindor Team left the locker room that Saturday afternoon, they weren’t so pleased.

“Oi, mate. What’s up with you?” asked an irritated Sirius, towel drying his sleek black hair. 

James didn’t answer but sat down on the bench and rubbed his face roughly. 

“Prongs?” asked Sirius. 

“I don’t know what to say to Lily,” he replied.

“What do you mean? Haven’t you been talking to her for the past few days?” asked Sirius. 

James shook his head miserably. 

Sirius looked confused, much like Remus. James groaned. He didn’t want to go through this conversation again; he already knew he overreacted and he had to apologize to Remus. He knew that Remus was right, no matter how much he hated the truth.

“What, have you two been having snogging parties instead of visits?” asked Sirius, unbelievingly.

James ignored Sirius’ comment. “I’ve been avoiding her,” he said gravely.

“Why, mate?” asked Sirius, sitting down across from him.

“Because I don’t know if I could take seeing her suffer that much. The funeral was hell for me,” he said. 

“But she’s the one who lost her parents, mate,” said Sirius.

“I know! And I don’t know why I’m being such a coward!” said James, getting up and starting to pace. 

“Well, she always wanted for you to leave her alone,” said Sirius quite bluntly.

James gave Sirius a wounded look and didn’t answer. He kept pacing the Quidditch Locker Room. “But at a time like this? When she has no family left and she needs her friends the most?” he said desperately.

“If you thought like this, then why didn’t you go and see her?” asked Sirius.

“I DON’T KNOW!” said James.

“Merlin, James,” said Sirius, getting up and packing up his things.

“What?!” said James, glaring at his mate.

“Just go and BLOODY talk to her,” said Sirius. It was the same thing Remus had said to him, just a bit more forcefully. 

James furrowed his eyebrows picked up his invisibility cloak angrily. He left the locker room without Sirius and went upstairs.

What the bloody hell was wrong with him? He was lashing out at his friends and avoiding the girl he loved. James had problems. 

After taking a quick shower and leaving the dorm, he walked down into the Common Room. There were mostly younger students playing games and doing homework. From the corner of his eye, he saw the sight that he was depriving his eyes of for so long. 

Lily was shivering although she was sitting right in front of the fire. Her bright green eyes were no longer bright and were staring into the flames. The fire light was bouncing off her hair, but her face was not glowing as it did when she was happy. She looked like she didn’t care what happened to her next.

James took a deep breath as his heart rate pumped quicker and his gut twisted into knots. He bravely went towards Lily and sat down to her left. 

“Hey, Lily,” he said carefully. She turned to look at him with no emotion on her face. 

“Hi,” she said quietly.

_At least she’s talking,_ thought James thankfully. “How are you?” he asked, fidgeting in his seat.

“Tired. Good night,” Lily stood up and left all in the time span of two seconds. James barely had time to register the thought until she was already half way up the stairs. What the hell was that? Some kind of pay back? He sighed dejectedly. _I guess I deserved that,_ he thought miserably. _It’ll be a couple of days, but she’ll return back to normal. I know she will._

…………………………

          Lily swiftly went up the Girls dormitory staircase and stopped in front of the door. She closed her eyes as tears slowly streamed down her face. Why had she done that? Why had she avoided him like that? He was sorry, she could tell by his face, but her body seemed to disobey her. Her mind seemed to want to do what James did to her, but her heart disagreed fully. Of course her mind took control and Lily had no say in it. She knew James was confused and probably hurt, but she told herself that it would all work out in the end. She just needed time to get over it. It would be fine. Right?

…………………………

          Days turned into weeks and then the new month was upon them. The Gryffindor Quidditch team were successful against the Hufflepuffs thanks to their hard practising. James apologized to Remus and Sirius and the Marauders were back to their normal selves. Head duties were still a pain in the arse, but the two Head students didn’t fail to live up to their titles. The only thing that wasn’t going smoothly was Lily.

          

As a stranger, you would see a happy, red-headed girl with no problems. As an acquaintance, you would see a content Head girl who had recently lost her parents, but was doing find. As a friend, you would see a struggling girl who needed to be comforted. As a close friend, you would see a hurt girl who had lost two of the people who loved her most in the world, and now she didn’t know what was worth living for. As someone who loved her more than anything, you wouldn’t just see, but you would feel exactly what this miserable girl was feeling and want to die just so she would be able to live a normal, happy life again. 

Lily Evans just lost her parents. Her sister disowned her. She is avoiding one of the only people left in the world that she loves more than anything. Head duties and NEWT studying has consumed her life. She no longer goes out to Quidditch games or Hogsmeade weekends. She puts on a happy façade so that no one knows what she’s really feeling. Even though the pain is too hard for her to endure, she does not cry, she keeps with it. What is going on with this miserable teenager? Pain is consuming her from the inside and enveloping her heart. Pain is making a prison out of her heart to keep people out. But, doesn’t she know that prisons are made to keep things in and not to keep things out? What will become of this grieved Head Girl? 

…………………………

Lily walked into her dormitory to the sound of her best friend crying. She quickly put her bag down and rushed over to her friend’s bed. 

“Marlene! Marly, what’s wrong?” she asked.

Marlene sniffled some more and hugged Lily tightly before responding. “I feel like I’m losing you, Lily,” she said as more tears streamed down her face.

Lily was confused. Lily had been spending more time with Marlene and less time with the Marauders since she was avoiding James. How could Marlene be losing her when she was never with anyone else?

Marlene seemed to read Lily’s mind and answered her questions. “You’re still with me physically, but it seems like you’re closing yourself off. You won’t let anyone in. Lily, you’re scaring me because I’m losing you. We’re losing you,” she said.

Lily was shocked. She didn’t know that Marlene could read her that easily. She thought that she had been hiding it well. Even though she told everyone she was okay, she knew she was far from it. 

Lily remained silent so Marlene continued. “You don’t laugh anymore, Lily. I know this must be terribly hard on you, I don’t know what you are going through. But Lily, you can’t shut yourself in like this. And what about James—,”

“Don’t,” said Lily sternly. “Don’t bring him into this,” she said.

Marlene gave Lily a watery look. “Why not? He sees it too, I know he does, and it’s tearing him apart. He loves you so much and all you’re doing is avoiding him—,”

“I said don’t,” said Lily getting up. There was no emotion on her face but there was an edge to her voice that showed she was angry.

“Lily, listen to me, please. You have to stop, let us help you,” said Marlene desperately.

“You can’t help me,” said Lily in a quiet voice. She picked up her bag and left the dormitory. 

…………………………

          James sat in his armchair and stared at the ceiling moodily. Remus was reading a book to his right and Sirius was flicking paper balls at Peter who was trying to do his homework. 

          

“Would you cut it out?” Peter squeaked. 

Sirius cackled and just continued.

James sighed heavily and started playing with a quill that was in his bag. It was the beginning of November now and Lily was still avoiding him. He would try talking to her during patrols, but she would reply with one word answers or a shrug. It would frustrate him to no end and he desperately wanted it to stop. Now, Marlene and Lily wouldn’t even sit with them anymore. James would try and talk to them, but Marlene would shrug apologetically and Lily would ignore him. It reminded him of when they were younger and Lily would ignore him because he was an immature prick and was always asking her for a date. Now, James wanted to be her friend first and his date-seeking was put aside until he knew that she was alright and would talk to him. 

Suddenly, Lily came back down the stairs after going upstairs without a word to the Marauders. There were tears coming down her face and she was there and gone in two seconds. James quickly reacted and jumped up. He quickly followed the crying Lily to where she was going. He was going to get some answers.

“Lily! Lily!” he shouted as he followed her.

His shouting only seemed to increase her speed and soon she was out of his sight. James clenched his jaw and ran faster. He didn’t recognize the direction she was going in, but he would figure it out. There wouldn’t be a place she could go without him knowing, after all, he showed her most of the secret rooms and passageways this school contained. 

James was wrong. Losing her from his sight was a bad idea as he couldn’t find her again. He checked everywhere, but no sign of her anywhere. He even went back to the dorm to check the Marauder’s Map, but still found NO sign of Lily. There was no way she could have just disappeared from the map. He checked the Room of Requirements and there was no one there. Sirius offered to check Hogsmeade as Padfoot, even though James doubted she would be there. Eventually, James agreed and Sirius went to the one-eyed witch that led to Hogsmeade. 

…………………………

Lily ran away from James’ voice and pushed open a door that was unfamiliar to her. She didn’t know where she was or where the door led too. She wiped her face of the tears that had suddenly come flowing from her eyes. It was the first time she had cried since her day back from the Hospital Wing which was two weeks ago.

She looked around the mysterious room she had come across and saw that it was decorated with reds and golds. There were two desks and couches in front of a fireplace. On the wall above the fireplace were the words, ‘Head Common Room’. Lily looked around in awe at the new room she stumbled into. Why hadn’t she or James found out about it? Where did it come from? Why didn’t Dumbledore tell them about this? 

She continued to look around the room that supposedly belonged to her and James. There was a letter on one of the desks and Lily picked it up. 

_To the Head Boy and Girl;_

_Congratulations on becoming Head students this year and finding the Head Common Room! Not many Head students have actually found this Common Room and never had the opportunity to use it. No doubt it would be useful for you both to organize your Head Duties! This room is an old, ancient room that is protected by the ancient magic of this castle. The founders made it so that only the appointed Head students may open it. Others may come in only if the Head student opens the door for them. It is hidden to all who do not have the badge and will remain so long as they are not Head Boy or Girl. So, congratulations again! Not many know of this ancient room, so be sure to keep it hidden so the next Head students may find it on their own._

_Use it well!_

Lily put down the letter and looked around once again. She had found a room hardly anyone else had found. She found a room where she could be alone and not have anyone glancing at her to see if she was okay. She didn’t have to put on a happy face for anyone anymore. Her eyes filled with tears and Lily lost herself.

…………………………  

When Sirius came back with no luck, James gave up. He had searched the whole castle and just didn’t know where Lily had gotten to. He asked Marlene when she came down from her dorm later on if Lily was in there, but she said that she had no idea where Lily was. He totally forgot that he and Lily had patrols that night or he would not have tried so hard. 

When eleven o’clock rolled around and Lily walked into the Gryffindor Common Room, James stood up suddenly. He saw that her face was still emotionless and her face was red. He immediately went towards her.

“Lily, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Are you okay?” he asked. 

Lily didn’t make eye contact or answer the question directed at her. “Patrols are starting, we should go,” she said quietly. 

James was frustrated that she once again avoided conversation but nodded anyways. She turned around and walked back out of the Common Room with James following her. 

The patrol was tense as James fumed and Lily looked at her feet. Neither talked or made any sort of noise. James finally broke the silence.

“So, where did you get off to?” he tried.

Lily shrugged. 

James tried again. “Why’d you run off?” he asked.

“It’s none of your business,” she snapped. They both stopped walking. Lily was glaring at James and James was staring shocked at Lily. She hadn’t used that tone of voice with him since last year. 

“Sorry, Lily. I’m just trying to help,” he said.

“You can’t, so just stop,” she said angrily. She started walking again with James following her. 

“Why can’t we help you, Lily? Everyone is so worried about you, why won’t you just respond?” he asked, getting angry himself. 

“Oh, so you cared when I was in the Hospital Wing and you didn’t come to see me once? You thought that after the funeral, when I needed you most, that I would be alright? Did you care then?” she asked with tears flowing again. 

James froze. Her words struck him hard and his stomach dropped like a stone. The pain and need was so evident in Lily’s eyes that James almost cried with her. He didn’t think that Lily would need him so much and that she depended on him so much. 

“I—,”

“Aww, did the Mudblood lover do something to make the wittle Mudblood angry?” asked a mocking voice from the shadows, interrupting James of his explanation.

“Sod off, Bellatrix,” said Lily, not taking her eyes from James. 

“Kiss your Mummy and Daddy with that mouth, Mudblood?” asked the voice of Lucius Malfoy. “Oh wait, didn’t they pass away, Mudblood? So very sorry to hear that,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.

Lily wiped her eyes and faced her adversaries. There was a fire ablaze in her eyes that seemed to shine in the darkness. James usually loved making her angry when he was younger because of that angry spark, but now he was scared of it. He actually felt sorry for the Slytherins; they had never been on the receiving end of Lily’s rage as James had many, many times.

“Leave, now,” said Lily in a low voice. It was so stern and demanding, James was surprised that the two Slytherins didn’t bolt right there; James almost did. 

“What are you going to do, Mudblood?” asked Bellatrix. Most of the mocking voice was gone and was replaced by a fear that she was afraid to show. 

“Leave, now,” she repeated, her eyes flashing.

“You can’t tell us what to do, Mudblood,” said the sneering voice of Malfoy.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” and with that, Lily wordlessly pointed her wand at Malfoy and Bellatrix. A light shot out of her wand to hit Malfoy with the Bat-Bogey Hex and hit Bellatrix with the Boil hex. They both shrieked as neither of them had any time to react because Lily was so fast. 

“Leave,” she said once again. 

Bellatrix gave a horrid shriek as boils started popping up from her face. She gave Lily a look of loathe and disgust before stomping towards the dungeons. Malfoy was groping the walls blindly as bats attacked his face. He swatted at them aimlessly before following Bellatrix’s resounding footsteps. 

James was frozen in his place. He would have laughed if it was any other situation and if Lily wasn’t so angry. She didn’t turn around but she spoke to him.

“Maybe we should cut patrols short,” she said. Her voice was thick with emotion but none of them showed on her face. James couldn’t see her eyes but knew that they would match her voice.

Lily didn’t wait for a reply as she started walking back to Gryffindor Tower. She didn’t look back at James or wait for him to catch up with her. She marched on as James struggled to keep up. 

Lily didn’t say a goodbye to James when they entered the Common Room and just went upstairs. James watched her go with an anguished look on his face. He didn’t know the amount of pain he had caused Lily and he deserved so much more punishment than she was giving him. She could ignore him, reject him, curse him and hex him, and it still wouldn’t be enough to pay back James for his stupidity. He sat in the one of the armchairs and closed his eyes. He put both arms on the armrests and held his head. He felt like a bloody idiot. He was so bloody tired. 

**Heeyyy thanks for reading and to those who reviewed :)**

**To Bluetomatopasta: Thank you for your honesty and I encourage you to read the whole thing, even though it might be clichéd. Keep reviewing, advice helps :)**

**So, what do you think you're doing? REVIEWING? That's what I thought.**

**XD**


	18. Found

**Chapter 18: Found**

_Lily was frozen in her place once again. Her parents were getting ready for bed. Her father was reading a book in bed and her mother was in the bathroom._

_“Hun, are you coming to bed?” asked her father, looking up from his book._

_“Yes, I’m almost done,” came Mrs. Evans’ voice from the bathroom._

_Lily closed her eyes tightly. She knew what came next. There would be a crash and two black-cloaked figures would murder her parents. She waited and waited, but no crash came. She opened her eyes to a white light._

_There, standing in front of her were her parents, glowing and happy. The sight of them made Lily’s eyes tear and her heart feel happy for once in such a long time._

_“Mum? Dad?” she asked hopefully._

_Her parents nodded._

_“Lily, what are you doing, Hun?” asked her mother softly._

_“What do you mean?” she asked._

_“Why are you throwing away your life, Lily?” clarified her father._

_“I’m not, what are you talking about?” she asked them. “I study hard, I follow orders, I do my Head duties…”_

_“Hun, there are more important things than school,” said her mother kindly._

_“What do you mean?” she asked again with her eyes tearing._

_“Listen to your heart, Lily. Let people in. Love again and let people love you,” said her father. Their images were slowly fading from view and Lily desperately reached out to them._

_“Lily, you will see us again. Live out your life as it will be shorter than most. We love you, Lily.” Mr. and Mrs. Evans were gone completely as Lily cried out in vain._

…………………………

          “LILY! LILY, WAKE UP!” said an urgent voice from beside her. Lily’s face was wet and there were soft hands wiping it. She felt comforting arms wrap around her and her shoulder was damp from someone else’s tears. She clung onto the shirt as she cried. Her parents’ words had unfrozen her cold heart and pumped the blood back into it. She was no longer closed off and hard, but she was vulnerable and raw. She was letting people in the longer she cried and cried. 

          

As soon as Marlene let go of her, Nicole grabbed her and hugged her fiercely. They all took turns holding Lily as she cried. When she finally stopped crying, all four of them were covered in salty tears and it was 4:00 in the morning. 

“Are you okay, Lily?” asked Marlene.

“I will be,” replied Lily, sniffing.

Marlene gave her a watery smile and hugged her again.

“I’m sorry for making you guys worry like that. I thought I was getting over it, but I didn’t want to let them go,” said Lily.

“It’s okay to hold on, Lily. As long as you move on as well,” said Nicole, wiping at her eyes.

Lily nodded and smiled. It didn’t really make sense, but she knew what Nicole meant. She was so thankful for her friends; she didn’t know what she would do without them. They stuck by her even when she was unresponsive to them and never had fun anymore. They supported her and comforted her through it all. She was truly lucky to have friends such as these. 

She would do as her parents told her. She would live her life to its fullest because life was short. She would let people in, no matter how much it would hurt when they were gone. But, it’s better to love than to never love at all. She would let her heart make decisions and she knew what she had to do in the morning. But right now, it was telling her that she needed sleep.

…………………………

          Lily woke up a few hours later with her face stained with tears and her shirt damp from the night before. She noticed that the three other girls in her dorm were still sleeping and looked worn out from last night’s (or rather this morning’s) events. It was still early, but Lily decided to take a shower early and prepare herself for that day.

          

It was a Thursday, so there were classes that day. She was thankful that it was a weekday and not a weekend, because if it was a weekend, the thing she had to do would come more quickly. At least now it would be delayed for a bit.

She was excited and nervous while she took a shower. Her old feelings were slowly returning to her body and it was foreign to her. Two weeks without feeling anything besides pain was a long time and all other emotions were quickly banished. There was still a dull aching in her chest, but Lily knew it would fade away eventually. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes letting the hot water wash away her loss. She saw the smiling faces of her parents in her mind and smiled back. She knew that she could live again; she would be alright.

…………………………

          The Marauders walked into the Great Hall that morning, expecting a normal Thursday. They walked towards their usual spot at the Gryffindor Table. James sighed heavily knowing that he wasn’t much closer to being with Lily; his chances were probably much lower now for not being there for her when she needed him most. He was such a bleeding idiot. 

“Cheer up, James. It’ll get better,” said Remus, piling food onto his plate.

“How do you know?” he asked miserably.

“Because the girls are walking right towards us and Lily is smiling,” replied Sirius, looking at the girls that were indeed coming towards them.

James, Remus and Peter followed Sirius’ gaze and James was greeted with a sight he had long since seen. There was Lily, a stream of early winter sun hitting her hair. There was a small smile planted on her face, but it was a genuine smile all the same. James’ breath caught in his throat and he gulped.

Lily looked a little timid as they walked towards them and James couldn’t help but stare at her. Her overnight transformation had sparked a flame in his heart and he let a smile grace his mouth. Lily met his eye and blushed. James was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t seen her face colour like that since the funeral. Now he grinned like a fool as the girls sat down with them.

“Morning boys. Mind if we sit?” asked Nicole, sitting down even before the boys had time to answer.

“Go right ahead,” said Sirius, smiling as they rest of the girls sat down.

“Welcome back,” said Remus, beaming at them.

“We never went anywhere,” said Marlene, giving them a sly smirk. 

No one answered but they all smiled back. They all knew he was talking to Lily, but Marlene, God bless her, answered for Lily to avoid any awkwardness and interrogation.

The seventh years ate breakfast with cheery moods. Lily didn’t talk much during the conversation, but everyone could see an evident change in her attitude. She was eating her food instead of pushing it around her plate. She was laughing and it showed it her eyes. She let her feelings show freely and finally looked happy. 

Of course, James couldn’t keep his eyes off of Lily. His chest swelled because he knew Lily was back. But this time, he wouldn’t let her get away.

…………………………

          Lily was happy. There was no other way to explain it. There would always be section of her heart that would be empty, but she knew that she could move on. Her parents told her to move on. She knew that she would see them again and that kept her going.

          

For the whole day, there was a smile on her face. Even if it was a small one, it was there. And they were real smiles, not the fake ones that she plastered on her face to appear like she was okay. She missed feeling happy and now she was making up for it. She was even happy that the Slytherins were glaring at her. Really, it’s not like she wanted them to like her, she really didn’t care. 

She didn’t say much all day, but it was not because she was dying on the inside, she just wanted to bask in the happiness of that day. She’d rather stay silent and watch all her friends laugh and take a break from worrying over her. They were all so faithful to her and she was immensely grateful for their patience. 

No one brought up her parents and for that, Lily was thankful. After all, it had not been that long since their deaths, and even if she was finally moving on, it was still a raw subject. Lily reflected on what her parents had told her in her dream. They said to let people in and let them love her. Hopefully he still would.

…………………………

          “He’s smiling again, Remus.”

          

“I know he is, Padfoot. Just leave him alone.”

“But, what’s wrong with him? Nothing’s even funny and he has a ridiculous smile on his face.”

“He’s happy, Sirius. Leave him alone.”

Pause.

“Hello? Prongs? Jamesssss…”

James ignored the hand waving in front of his face as his eyes rested on the red-head who was doing her homework. His lips moved subconsciously into a smile as he watched her tug her hair in thought. It had passed three days since Lily’s miraculous transformation into her old self. Of course, she hadn’t talked to James that much yet, but at least she was talking.

“PRONGS!” James felt a sharp jab in his stomach and he ripped his eyes away from Lily to glare at Sirius.

“What was that for?!” James asked angrily, holding his stomach.

“For that stupid smile,” said Sirius, sitting back in his chair smugly.

James rolled his eyes but didn’t look back at Lily. She would eventually notice he was staring at her and would embarrass himself. 

He wasn’t sure if she had forgiven him yet for avoiding her after the funeral; they hadn’t really talked about it. The last time they had really spoken was the night of the patrols where Lily had lashed out. These past few days, she was recovering and still a little unsure; James could tell. But, he would be patient; it would only be a matter of time, right?

“So, patrols tonight, eh, Prongs?” said Remus, looking up from his book.

James’ face drained of colour. Had he forgotten about patrols? 

“I have patrols tonight?” he asked in a shaky voice.

“Yup,” answered a voice, but it wasn’t Remus. James looked behind him and gulped. Lily was standing right there. 

“H-hey, Lily,” he said, smiling weakly.

“Hey, James. We should leave soon,” she said, smiling back. 

James nodded as Lily went upstairs to put away her book bag.

Remus shook his head and Sirius snickered. “Just like the old days, innit?” said Sirius.

James glared and stood up. He didn’t answer because he knew Sirius was right. He had lost all of his previous ability to talk to Lily and had to start from the beginning. Oh, boy. 

Lily came back downstairs and James followed her out the Gryffindor Common Room with sounds of Sirius’ laughter mocking him from behind. 

They two Head students walked in silence as they patrolled the dark corridors. James was thinking of something to say as Lily looked like she was concentrating on something. 

“How are you?” James asked suddenly, not able to find anything else to say. He mentally slapped himself. What an idiot thing to say.

“I’m fine. It’ll get better,” she said smiling at him. 

James nodded. So far, this was going alright, right? James grimaced at his stupidity.

“Look, James. I’m sorry for yelling at you a couple of days ago, I didn’t mean it. I was just really upset,” said Lily quite suddenly.

James was shocked. That was certainly not what he was expecting. He was just about to apologize to her. But, if she didn’t mean it, then did that mean that she didn’t need him? Damn girls and their riddles!

“I—er, a-are you sure? I mean, I understand if you really are mad, I was an arse—”

“No, James. It’s okay. I didn’t mean to yell at you, I’m sorry,” she said. She didn’t made eye contact with him and it frustrated him because if she would just look up, he could make out what she meant; she was just too confusing.

“Er, um. Okay. I’m sorry, too,” said James. “So, we’re good?” he asked hopefully.

Lily seemed hesitant at first and James’ heart sank, but she nodded her head and smiled. “We’re good,” she said finally.

James exhaled and smiled. “I’m glad you’re back, Lily,” he said thankfully.

Lily smiled but didn’t respond.

The rest of the night, James and Lily exchanged polite conversation, not quite returning to their previous friendship, but moving forward all the same. James knew that Lily was still unsure about him and he accepted it. After neglecting her like that, he had it coming. He was selfish and wanted to be friends again so he could be that much closer to getting a date with her. 

As they said goodnight in the Common Room, James noticed Lily hesitate a bit before leaving him to go upstairs. What could that have been? James didn’t think about it much before going off to bed himself; his heart a little lighter than before.

…………………………

          

Lily’s heart was pumping hard in her chest. She grabbed at it as she ran upstairs to her dorm. She had finally talked to James since that night when she lashed out at him. Lily had been neglecting her feelings and her heart so it was working overtime for the time she had lost. It had been thumping wildly all during the patrol even when she put on a calm façade; she had gotten good at that. 

Even though she wasn’t used to her feeling this much, it was a welcome change. Her firm, cold heart was once again the caring, feeling, beating organ that told her if what she was doing was right. As she thought about James’ relieved face and happy eyes, her heart gave one more _bu-bump_ and Lily knew she was doing the right thing. 

Since the night of her parents’ reappearance through Lily’s dream, she had stopped seeing her parents being murdered. Anyone could tell that she was getting more sleep as her eyes looked more awake and were gaining back their usual shimmer. Her face seemed more coloured and not as pale. She seemed to smile a bit more and they were genuine. Marlene, Nicole and Melissa were relieved beyond relief and it seemed like a great weight was lifted off their shoulders. Not that Lily was a burden on them, but they were worried that they were losing a friend.

It was an understatement to say that Lily was glad to be back. She couldn’t even explain the feeling of being able to feel again. 

…………………………

          _Lily was sitting on the swings and gently swinging herself back and forth. She was eleven years old and Petunia had just called her a ‘freak’ again. Her knees were scraped from running and falling on the ground. It was embarrassing that an eleven year old girl had fallen down and scraped her knee; that was for five year olds, but right now, she didn’t care. Tears were running down the girl’s face and made water drops on her shorts. She sniffed as the wind chilled her and the sun slowly set in the horizon._

_Petunia had always called her ‘freak’ and it hurt Lily so much. Was your older sister supposed to make you feel like this? Like you were an outcast in your own family? That you were so ‘different’ that she couldn’t even look at you without being disgusted? Lily constantly wondered why Petunia was so resentful to her younger sister who only desired to be loved by a sister._

_It was true, though, what Petunia said. Lily was the only one in her family that had red hair. Her father had brown while Petunia and her mother had blond. Petunia had always made fun of her for having the red hair, calling her ‘carrot head’ and ‘tomato face’. It was very hard for the younger sister to endure._

_“Lily?” A familiar voice grabbed Lily from her thoughts. She hastily wiped her eyes as the figure of her father appeared in the distance. She could tell it was him from the way he stood; his shoulders pushed back and his long legs walking swiftly. She gently waved to him, showing him where she was._

_“Lily, Hun. What happened?” asked her father. He moved behind her and started pushing Lily on the swing._

_Lily sniffled before answering. Her father hadn’t pushed her on the swing since she was five years old. “Nothing,” she said._

_Mr. Evans stopped pushing her and leaned against the swing set so that he was in view of Lily._

_“Was it Petunia?” he asked her knowingly._

_Lily sniffed again and nodded as her swing came to a halt._

_Her father sighed tiredly and rubbed his face. “What did she do this time?” he asked her._

_“Called me ‘freak’ again,” said Lily dejectedly in a quiet voice. She was ashamed that Petunia thought so little of her._

_“Hun, you have to know that Petunia still loves you even though she may hurt you sometimes,” he said._

_Lily nodded, but she didn’t necessarily believe him._

_“And no matter what she says, Petunia, your mother and I all love you very much,” he said._

_Lily nodded once again as she looked down at her feet making patterns in the sand._

_The two were quiet for a moment before Lily said in the same quiet voice, “Why does she always have to say things like that? If she loves me, why does she have to hurt me so much? I don’t want her to love me if that’s what love feels like.”_

_Her father looked a bit shocked that an eleven year old felt and thought so strongly about love. He cleared his throat before answering._

_“Well, Petunia has a different way of showing her emotions, Lily. When a sister loves, sometimes they show it in a teasing way, and sometimes it hurts. But, I said it before, she does love you, no matter how much she doesn’t show it,” he said. “And even if it hurts, Lily, you can’t let that affect how you feel. Even if it hurts, don’t be afraid to take chances and to let people love you. Sometimes it will hurt, but I promise you that it will all work out in the end. You can’t shut yourself away from the world,” he added._

_Lily finally looked up at her father and smiled. Her eyes were tearing again but not because of sadness. Her father had a similar smile gracing his lips and Lily hugged him. At that time, she didn’t know how much that advice would help her._

_As she was hugging him, the environment changed. She opened her eyes to a white light. There, her parents were standing once again. She was no longer eleven, but seventeen. This scene was all too familiar to Lily._

_“Mum, Dad,” she said as her lips moved into a smile. They looked wonderful and the sight of them made Lily happy once again._

_“Good job, Hun. We love you so much. Don’t worry about Petunia, Lily. When the time comes, she will help you out when you most need it. It will all work out in the end,” said her mother._

_“You’re doing the right thing, Lily. Don’t forget what we told you. Pick your friends wisely. They will be your stronghold, but they may also be your downfall,” said Mr. Evans._

_Lily nodded as their images were fading once again._

_“That James fellow is a good one, Lily,” said her father._

_Lily was shocked that her dream could actually be that clear and precise. She nodded as her parents slowly dissipated._

_“We love you.”_

…………………………

          One week passed and Lily was now almost just as she was before the death of her parents. She laughed, smiled, worked, all like before, although now, she thought of her parents more and more. They weren’t sad thoughts; they were happy memories of her childhood. 

But, another thought plagued her mind, thoughts of Petunia and what she was doing now. She had sent Lily half of her parents’ money and some of Lily’s things that she couldn’t take with her after the funeral. But, Petunia didn’t send any news of herself or any greetings at all. 

          

Since Petunia had sold their house, Lily had no where else to live. It was obvious that Petunia would not take her in when school finished and Lily was worried. She didn’t know what she would do when she graduated from Hogwarts; it had been her home for seven years. When she voiced her thoughts to Marlene, Marlene merely laughed and told Lily not to think about it now and it will be resolved when the time comes. She also said that her home was welcome to Lily any time she wanted. Lily thanked her immensely, but somehow, she knew that she could not intrude upon the McKinnons and that the idea would probably not happen.

Lily and James’ relationship had bounced back and they were soon spending plenty of time together like they had before. James was understanding and Lily was forgiving. Everyone around them knew it was only a matter of time before bigger things took place. 

…………………………

Lily and James walked along the dark corridors as their patrols progressed. They shared a comfortable silence as they walked together. It was nearing one o’clock and James yawned. 

“Tired?” asked Lily, noticing his yawn.

“It’s nothing. I’m a big boy,” he said, smiling.

Lily smiling back and nodded. There was a tugging on her chest, telling her that she had to do something, but she couldn’t. She started fidgeting with her robes.

“Should we head back, now?” asked James, distracting her. 

She looked up into his hazel eyes and her breath caught in her throat. She nodded, not able to do anything else at the moment. 

The two Head students walked back towards the Gryffindor Tower. That night’s patrols had been uneventful, just a couple of sixth years after hours as usual. 

“Hey, James. Do you remember when we overheard Malfoy and Bellatrix talking? What do you think happened with that?” asked Lily quite suddenly.

James seemed a bit shocked at her question. He knew what she was talking about and he also remembered what Bellatrix ‘told’ him after finding out about Lily’s parents. He clenched his fists at the memory and set his jaw. He knew that she had something to do with it, but he couldn’t do anything. James knew that it wouldn’t be wise to tell Lily because she would either have another ‘episode’ or rage out against Bellatrix, much like that night where she lashed out at James. 

“James? Are you okay?” she asked him.

James looked over at her, almost forgetting she was there. Her eyes were confused and concerned at James sudden anger and her hand was resting on his arm. It felt nice.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I remember that. But since there hasn’t been anything recent, it’s probably been abandoned. I don’t think we should worry about it anymore,” he said finally.

Lily nodded in defeat. “I just thought we could have caught them in the act or something.”

“I know. But there is nothing to prove. If we tell Dumbledore about what we heard, we’ll probably get in trouble for being out after hours. And there is no actual proof besides what we heard.”

“That’s true. I guess we have to drop it then?” 

“It’s the only thing I can think of doing.”

James and Lily resumed silence again as they approached the Fat Lady. James said the password quietly and they slipped into the Common Room. 

Lily saw that there was still a fire lit and it was dying out slowly. She wasn’t really tired and since it was a Friday, she thought she would stay up a bit. She walked over to the fireplace and placed in some more logs. The fire instantly jumped up and the room was filled with light. She sat down on one of the couches and James sat down next to her. 

“You don’t have to stay down here. You can go to bed,” said Lily, even though she wanted him to stay.

“No, it’s alright. I’ll stay for a bit,” he said with his eyes drooping. 

Lily smiled. She watched as his eyes closed and his arm went around the back the couch. She inched closer to him and leaned on his shoulder. He responded by wrapping his arm around her waist. She could smell his musky cologne and feel his warmth against her. She breathed in deeply and looked up at his face. 

James’ eyes were closed but there was a small smile on his beautiful lips. She suddenly felt wide awake. She slowly moved her face closer to his and waited to see if he noticed. His eyes remained closed so she moved closer. She could now feel his warm breath hitting her face in small puffs. Her heart was doing leaps inside her chest. She dared to move her face closer to his. James’ eyelids fluttered but they did not open. As she closed her eyes, she closed the gap between their mouths and kissed him. 

**[A/N: I don't think many people are reading this, but if you are, please REVIEW. Thanks. Check out Mr. Hangman, one-shot that I wrote. ]**


	19. Finally

**Chapter 19: Finally**

          Fireworks. Red, green, pink, blue, purple bloody fireworks. James couldn’t explain what he was feeling right now except, DEAR F***ING MERLIN. I AM IN HEAVEN.

          

When he felt lips press against his, he thought he was dreaming. He opened his eyes and saw Lily’s angelic face not even inches away from his and felt her lips against his. If this was a dream, he might as well make the best of it. 

James wrapped both arms around her waist and brought her closer to him. He deepened the kiss and she wrapped her hands around his neck. She started running her fingers through his hair and she moaned. 

Lily pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. The emotion in her eyes was so hard to read, but they were intoxicating. She was straddling his waist now as he sat on the couch. Neither of them said anything.

“What now?” asked Lily in a quiet voice. He felt her breathing on his face. 

James gulped. He was still breathing heavily from that kiss; he wouldn’t be surprised if his heart was running around the Forbidden Forest with the jolt of energy he had. 

He put his forehead against hers. “Lily Evans, will you go out with me?” he asked in a husky voice. 

She didn’t answer, but kissed him again. This one was more innocent, but the fireworks were there all the same. She pulled back slightly so their lips were not touching but were a mere millimetre apart. It was torturing James not to move his lips against hers again. 

“Yes,” she whispered against his lips. He smiled and moved his lips forward. He felt her smile against him. Finally. 

…………………………

          “Look, they’re holding hands!”

          

“Are they together now?” 

“There is no doubt about it. About time.”

“Thank Merlin. I was getting sick of their arguments.”

“She’s such a slag. I bet she had to pay him to do that. What an attention seeker.”

“FINALLY!”

Lily and James were greeted with all of these whispered responses as they walked into the Great Hall together. Indeed, James was holding Lily’s hand and they were walking very close together. Lily was blushing slightly at all of the attention, and James was grinning like a loon. Almost every eye was on the pair.

James and Lily sat down with their friends at the Gryffindor Table. They were all smiling widely at the pair. Sirius clapped James on the back as the girls giggled like twelve year olds. 

“So, it’s true then,” said Sirius smiling.

“Of course it is, you loon. I told you last night,” said James, still smiling.

“Thought you were dreaming, mate,” said Sirius, winking at James. 

James rolled his eyes but wasn’t offended. Nothing could bother him today; his dream was finally coming true. Finally.

…………………………

James’ hand was wrapped securely around hers and Lily felt the safe feeling returning. It was so small, yet it made her so happy. She knew that James would not let anything happen to her and a warm feeling filled her chest. She was so…happy, the she would have hugged Snape. Not that James would let her, of course.

As they left got up to leave the Great Hall for their first class, Lily’s eye caught Dumbledore’s. He was smiling brightly and there was a distinct twinkle in his eyes. He discreetly winked and turned his gaze. Lily smiled. Everything was perfect. 

Since it was a Saturday, the seventh years were walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room. As they were walking, Lily suddenly remembered the hidden Head Common Room that she had discovered. She still hadn’t told James of it yet; truthfully, she had forgotten about it until right now. She hadn’t really had that much use for it since she found it. Maybe now, she would…

“Hey James. Can I show you something?” she whispered in his ear so that no one else could hear. 

James looked down at her and smiled brightly. “Sure,” he said. 

“Hey guys. We’ll catch up with you later, okay?” said Lily, already turning on the spot.

Sirius grinned like a maniac and winked at James. Marlene smiling wryly as Nicole and Melissa giggled. “Don’t forget to use protection!” shouted Sirius as they walked away.

“You’ll be the Godfather, Sirius!” James shouted back. Lily slapped his arm. 

“Hey, what was that for?” he asked. 

“For insinuating that we are going to have children,” said Lily. “I mean, it’s been, what, six hours?” 

James shrugged and smirked. “So, where are we going?” he asked.

“I have to show you something,” Lily repeated.

“What?” he asked curiously.

“You’ll see,” she said smirking. 

Lily silently guided them, hands still clasped together. Finally, they made it to the door that led to the mysteriously hidden Common Room. 

Lily stopped in front of the door and looked up at James. “Ready?” she asked excitedly.

James rose an eyebrow. “You wanted to show me a broom closet, Lily? I think I already know what—”

“It’s not a broom closet, James,” she said interrupting him. 

“Then what is it?” he asked, turning to the door. 

Lily smirked at him because she knew something he didn’t. “Open it and find out,” she said. 

He gave her a questioning look before clasping the doorknob and opening the door. She saw his eyes widen in shock as the sight of the Head Common Room met his eyes. James let go of her hand and walked inside. Lily followed him and closed the door behind them. 

“Head Common Room? You mean that this is for us?” he asked, looking around.

“Mhm. Look at the note,” she said, pointing to the letter on the desk. 

James read the note and looked at Lily. “You found this?” he asked.

Lily nodded happily. “So, what do you want to do?” asked Lily slyly. 

James gave Lily a wry smile and sat down on the couch. He leaned back and patted the spot beside him. It all looked very enduring. 

Lily giggled and sat down beside him. She snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes as her arm found its way around her again. It felt so right to be there with him, even if they just started going out that same morning. There was no awkwardness between them, no getting used to, nothing. They already both loved each other before, only now, they got to show it. And just being with him made Lily forget all her troubles and be happy.

…………………………

          Six long years. Six long years of waiting, pestering, badgering, asking, hoping, wanting, loving, she was finally his. All of those times when he felt like giving up, moving on, abandoning her, he knew that they were all worth it as he looked down at the red-head curled up in his arms. He knew that he could protect her and fight for her now, even though she didn’t need him too. He knew that he would never leave her and that he would not let her get away. He knew that he could show her how much he loved her and how much she meant to him. Finally.          

Just holding her in his arms like this was so blissful. 

They would no longer have to suffer alone. When she was down, so would he. When she was happy, he would be ecstatic. As long as Lily needed him, he would be there. 

Now that they were together, he knew that they would not be able to be apart. Nothing would be the same if they were. Of course, James would have his nights with the Marauders and Lily with her friends, but otherwise, they would be together. And he was perfectly happy with that. 

…………………………

          The two Head students left the Common Room some time later. It seemed that nothing could deter their happy spirits as they walked back up to the Common Room. 

          

When they entered together, the whole room seemed to erupt in cheers. It sounded as though they had won the Quidditch Cup. James and Lily were both shocked and James seemed to react faster. He winked at Lily and raised their clasped arms in the air. The cheers got louder and Lily was laughing despite herself. 

It seemed as though not everyone was happy for the couple. Lily received dark glares from girls with thick layers of make-up on their faces, but she just smiled and waved back. James seemed to be getting looks of jealousy and rage, but he just pulled Lily closer and kissed her cheek. All in all, the two were both enjoying themselves. 

Finally McGonagall came into Gryffindor Tower and demanded to know what was going on. Sirius screamed out, “Lily and James finally got it together!” 

A ghost of a smile seemed to pass across the educator’s mouth and she nodded curtly. To everyone’s surprise, she let them carry on in the celebrations.

Lily could help but laugh and smile for the rest of the week. It seemed that all her worries were gone. She knew that whatever happened, James would be there to help her through it. She knew that everything would work out in the end because she was with James. There was no way that he would let something happen to her. She was safe. 

…………………………

          As the weeks progressed, Lily and James’ relationship did nothing but grow. They were barely ever apart. They both seemed to have smiles permanently attached to their faces and they were nothing but real. Lily’s laughter rang out through the corridors and James’ deep voice echoed through the hallways. They were no doubt Hogwarts’ most talked about couple.

          

Half of the school loved them, half hated them, and all of them loved talking about them. No doubt there were rumours, but James and Lily skilfully ignored them. They didn’t let anyone tell them anything otherwise and trusted each other completely. They knew that they would do nothing to harm the other. 

Jealously hit the hearts of almost everyone in the school. Many girls were jealous of the fact that Lily was dating James, and vice-versa about the boys. Many couples were jealous of the kind of love that James and Lily had for each other. It was rare that someone got to see two people SO in love. It seemed that the teachers even saw it. They would smile whenever they saw the couple holding hands or just laughing together. Whether the happy couple saw them or not, they didn’t know. 

The couple shared Hogsmeade weekend trips together. Of course it was just as Lily imagined them to be. Perfect. There was no overly romantic things, just small things that made Lily smile, things that James probably didn’t even think twice about. It was those things that made Lily really love James. It was the small things that made her day. It was the little details that made James so much more wonderful as a person. 

During Christmas, Lily had gone to meet James’ parents. No doubt it was hard on Lily as she wasn’t with her family as she normally was, and James never got to meet them. It was then that the old feelings of pain came back no matter how hard she tried to fight them away. But this time, it was so much easier as she had James now to reel her back in. 

It was without question that Mr. and Mrs. Potter fell in love with Lily. She was beautiful, charming, witty, and perfect for James. Anyone that could make their son so happy was perfect for them. Mrs. Potter actually ended up crying after witnessing the love that her son had for Lily. In truth, the whole affair was quite emotional. Lily and Mrs. Potter bonded, and Mr. Potter gave James a speech about the right woman. He also told him that Lily was the right woman. James surprised his father by telling him he already knew. 

Time seemed to pass too quickly for Lily’s liking. She wanted to stop time and just live like this forever. She wanted to be with James forever and never want to move forward. She didn’t want to leave the safe haven that Hogwarts had made for her. She didn’t want to leave only to be pushed into the real world where she was in danger. She didn’t want to leave and go into the future that was unknown. Her life was so good right now, she just didn’t want it to end, because she knew that hard times would follow the good ones. She wanted so much, but she knew that it would be impossible. But, at least she had James. 

…………………………

 

          “Lily, I have to tell you something.”

          

“What is it, James?”

“I’m not sure how you’re going to react to this, Lily.”

“Just tell me.”

“Okay, here goes. I’m an animagus.”

“…What?”

“An animagus. You know, when a wizard can transform into the animal that most reflects their personality the most, at will—”

“I know what an animagus is, James.”

“Okay…so, um. Are you mad?”

“I can’t be mad, because it’s not true.”

“Er…”

“Are you telling me that a seventeen year old boy managed to become an animagus, something that even the most skilled wizard could not do?”

“Yes.”

“You are aware that that’s illegal, right James?”

“Yes.”

“And that you can be thrown into Azkaban?”

“Yes.”

“And that it’s really dangerous?”

“Yes.”

“And that you could have really harmed yourself doing that?” 

“Yes. We already thought of everything.”

“Then, why—wait, what? We? Who’s ‘we’?”

“Sirius, Peter and I.”

“What about Remus?”

“He’s the reason we became animagi.”

“How?”

“Well, you know that he is a werewolf, right?”

“Yes, but how does that have to do with—Oh.”

“You understand now?”

“Yes.”

“And you know that it is important to us, right?” “Yes.”

“And you know that it helps Remus, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you understand why we did it, right?” “Yes.”

“Okay, as long as we’re clear. You’re free to yell now. I’ve already soundproofed the room.”

“I’m not going to yell, James.”

“You’re not?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because even though it was extremely stupid and dangerous and extremely life-threatening and illegal and—”

“Okay, I get the point.”

“Right. But, even though it is all those things, I know it was for Remus and…I’m proud of you.”

“…R-really?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. Lily. There are no words to explain how incredibly amazing you are. Thank you.” “Your welcome. Can I see?”

“See what?”

“Your animagus form.”

“Oh! No, I don’t think you can.”

“…”

“OW! I was just joking. Geez.”

“Wow, James. Of course, a stag. You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you. I think you’re pretty beautiful yourself.”

“Aww, James, you really know the way to a girl’s heart.”

“I know. Can I kiss you now?”

…………………………

          “Hahahaha…NO! James, stop!”

          

“I won’t stop tickling until you say it!”

“No! Hahahaha! STOP!”

“Say it…”

“NEVER! Hahaha…”

“I won’t stop until you say it!”

“Ahahahaha. Okay, okay! What do I say again? Hahaha….”

“James Potter is the sexiest man alive and the world’s greatest boyfriend!”

“Hahaha…but that would be lying!”

“OHO! You’re getting it now, Evans!”

“NO! I’m sorry, James! HAHAHA! Okay! OKAY!”

“Say it…”

“James Potter is the…I forgot.”

“Lily! What am I going to do with you?!”

“Hahahaha! I remember! Stop the tickling!”

“Out with it…”

“James Potter is the sexiest man alive and the world’s greatest boyfriend.”

“Finally!”

“…Not.”

“And just when I thought I could stop the tickling…”

“Ahahahah! I’m sorry, James! I didn’t mean it!”

“Fine. I guess I’ll stop.”

“Thank you!”

“But, you do think I’m the sexiest man alive, don’t you?”

“Hmm…maybe after Sirius.”

“Ouch.”

“Just joking, James! Sirius has nothing on you. And I’m sure he wouldn’t write me corny love poems like you do.”

“Shhh! That’s supposed to be a secret.”

“Oops. Sorry, James.

“It’s okay. Just don’t bring it up anymore.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” 

“I love you, James.”

“I love you too, Lily.”

…………………………

          “Lily?”

          

“James?”

“Will you marry me?”

“W-what?”

“Will you marry me, Lily Evans?”

“…”

“Lily?”

“YES! Yes, James! I’ll marry you!”

…………………………

“James?”

          

“Lily?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“W-what?”

“I’m pregnant, James.”

“…”

“James?”

“You mean that there is going to be a little James running around in nine

months?”

“Or a little Lily…”

“Dear Merlin.”

“James?”

“MERLIN, LILY! WE’RE HAVING A BABY!”

…………………………

          Lily Evans: red-headed, green-eyed, Head Girl to James Potter’s Head Boy. 

Lily Evans: strived to be different, ignored her heart, ‘hated’ James Potter.  

Lily Evans: realised that what was in her heart was what really mattered and fell in love.

…………………………

Sitting on the living room floor with baby Harry sitting in front of her, Lily couldn’t help but reflect on the past. She remembered her want to be different and how she acted to James. 

Without James, her life would have been so different. She never would have experienced love, both romantically and motherly. She would have never let anyone in. She would not have led the wonderful life that she did. She would not have been able to get over the death of her parents and of Marlene, which was extremely difficult. She never would have had the motivation to live out her life like she did. 

But, she also never would have had the danger of Voldemort looming on her shoulders. She would not have had the worry of her only child being murdered because he had the potential to vanquish the Dark Lord. She would not have had to isolate herself and her family from all the dangers that were out there in the world. She would not have had to endure all the hardships that came along with James. 

Lily shook her head and smiled as Harry started making baby noises. He tried standing up, but only fell back on his bum again. He gave up and grabbed at Lily’s fingers.

Was this how she wanted to live her life? _Of course it was. There is no doubt in my mind._ She realised that she never truly lived before James came along. James taught her how to take risks and that it was better to love than to never love at all. There was no other way she would rather live. James and Harry were the two people that she would not be able to live without. 

Going back to seventh year, did she really live differently than all the rest? After much consideration, Lily decided YES. Loving James was being even more different than not loving him. She was the only one who knew him more intimately than Sirius, Remus or Peter ever could. Sure, there were some things that the Marauders shared with James that she would never begin to comprehend, but she had her fair amounts of things as well. It was not any sort of competition, but she felt that she needed to know him differently than his mates. 

So really, did Lily achieve her goal? 

I’d say, yes. Lily Evans got what she wanted. Finally. 

**THE END.**

**A/N: FINALLY! it seems like this fanfic took forever to write.** ****

 

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****For some who were wondering why I was ending so soon (and if you're not, then i'm telling you anyways, so suck it up) is because:** **

 

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**a) personally, i think that this story is crap. complete and utter crap. it is too clichéd, too typical, too predictable, too normal, too boring, too average. truthfully, i need A LOT of work. I want to better my writing skills cause, quite frankly, i'm not very good. I appreciate your support, i really do, but sometimes, i need some criticism**

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**b) there wasn'** **t a lot more that i COULD write. i wasn't planning on writing all the way up to their deaths anyways cause then it would be 100000 chapters long (extreme exaggeration) and eventually, you and I would both get extremely bored with it, oui? also cause i don't really have any experience with the whole pregnant issue, and i don't know if it would be appropriate about me writing about it with no idea about it what so ever.**

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**Finally, I'd like to thank you.**

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**Thank you for reading, thank you for reviewing, and thank you for criticising for those who did. Really, as a new writer, i think that i need a lot of advice on making it better, so when all you tell me is "OMG! THAT CHAPTER WAS AMAZING! UPDATE SOON!" i don't really have anything to build on to give you a BETTER chapter next update. But, i STRONGLY appreciate your praises all the same. :)**

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**And as I sit here, lecturing you, i thank you once again for reading. Hopefully, you will read my next fic, which i have NO IDEA what it will be about, but it will be ORIGINAL. i promise :) and if you have yet to check it out, read my one-shot, Mr Hangman, and review on that story, not this one. I like to have different reviews...haha sorry for my pickiness.**

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**I LOVE YOU ALL!**

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**And finally, please. REVIEW. ONE. LAST. TIME. XD**

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**\--qwertybob.**

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